


Life and Spells

by Zoodan21



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, And the rest of the gang is a bit oblivious, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Magic happens and it's a mess, Multi, Pining, Texting, eventual angst, in which lafayette is a witch, it's not a text fic but texting is a small part of it, trans hercules
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2018-11-17 02:13:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11265828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoodan21/pseuds/Zoodan21
Summary: 'They hadn't exactly asked for magic, but it was there,'University was great, if the person you had to live with wasn't a complete asshole. But Lafayette might have the solution to their problems; in the form of a poster searching for an extra rommie by a John Laurens. And if it all goes well they can finally say goodbye to Charles Lee for the rest of their stay at King's College.There is only one small, overlooked, problem; Laf is a witch, and with three new over friendly roommates that secret is becoming increasingly hard to hide.





	1. Green Tourmaline- New beginnings, enhances courage

**Author's Note:**

> woo I'm v nervous to put this work up!! it's not the frist fic i've written for Hamilton but it's the first one I've published so we'll see how it goes!
> 
> Laf is the main character and I'm jumping on the bandwagon with them being non-binary which, as a genderfluid person, I thing is one of the best trends in this fandom :^) If i do make a mistake and write 'he' somewhere please tell me!
> 
> Also a huge thanks to C-A-Love who is my beta and one of my best friends <3  
> And without further ado, Let's Go!

The decision may have been quick, but damn it would be so nice to be free from that demon.

 

Okay so Lafayette might be exaggerating, but not by much. They had been living with Charles Lee for the better part of his third semester at Church University and it had been  _ hell _ . 

 

Lee and them had gotten into a lot of heated fights in the beginning of the year about nearly everything and anything, that later cooled down to the two of them ignoring each other as much as possible. Except for the occasional spat now and then that really couldn't be helped. Their personalities were alike, but their options couldn’t differ more. While Lafayette often preferred to stay inside their room with a cup of tea and their plants, grumbling about school and trying to ignore Lee, Charles seemed to find it amusing to try and push their buttons as often as possible. In the beginning Laf had tried to do the same, but Lee wasn’t very good at handling ‘critique’ so most of the times he just responded with a punch. 

 

Really nice guy. Laf couldn’t understand why some girls willingly went home with him.

 

They had tried to contact the school board and the RA about changing dormroom about one week into the year, only to find out that it was a ‘policy’ of theirs that students were not allowed to do so. Their RA had given Lafayette the wonderful advice to just accept and try to make the best of their stay or whatever. 

 

But that didn’t mean that Lafayette was content with the situation, and Lee was a phobic asshole anyways, so when they had seen the flyer proclaiming in bold letters ‘IN NEED OF NEW ROOMIE ASAP’ followed by three exclamation points, they had been intrigued. They hadn’t actively been looking for a way to get away from Lee, but had tried a few times to hint that it would be better for Lee to maybe move in with one of his friends or that  _ if he disliked Lafayette so much then why didn’t he simply move to an apartment, huh?  _ To which the response had been a fist to their arm. Lafayette had answered with punching him back, it was how their fight’s usually started. Even though it would feel like a defeat against Lee if it was them who moved out, maybe this was the solution to their terrible living situation. They couldn’t just sit and wait around for him to move out, if he ever would, and they honestly needed to do something.

 

Unfortunately their class begun nearly three minutes later so Laf had only had time to look at the paper, decided it was worth checking out, ripping it off the wall where it was hanging and the rushed off to Washington’s class for a two hour lecture. (Said teacher had been the center of more arguments between them and Lee, but Lafayette still held true to their belief that Washington was one of the best teachers on campus. If not  _ the best _ .)

 

 

 

Later, when they had come back to the dorm room and locked their door so there was no possible way for Lee to bargain in unannounced, and was comfortably lying on their bed with no shoes, computer in lap, Laf remembered the paper they had hastily showed into their bag. 

 

With a groan they stretched himself from the bed and tried to reach the bag on the floor, only to nearly fall out before getting a hold of the side and dragging it up to the bed. They closed their laptop and reached for the flyer, it was a bit crumpled from Lafayette shoveling it so hastily in their bag. They rubbed their eyes, smearing out the mascara and not caring a bit, before they begun to read.

 

_ NEED NEW ROOMIE ASAP!!! _

_ Are you a tired student who dislikes living in the dorms, have a really shity roommate or any other reason and feel like you wanna move? _

 

_ Then we might have the solution for you!! _

 

_ If you can handle living with 3 guys that lives of coffee and probably goes out to drink a bit to often and a bit of a longer walk to campus, then perhaps we might interest you in becoming our new roomie. Great perks with living with us include: a (probably) lower rent than the dorms, coffee is always available, movie nights at least once a month, being woken up at 2 AM by a fanatic law student and much more! _

 

_ If you're interested please contact John Laurens so that we can have a meetup and discuss this _

 

_ (Please we’re just a tiny bit desperate) _

 

It was followed by John Laurens name again and a phone number, and Lafayette raised an eyebrow. The text was extremely cheesy, and the chance of it being serious was slim and the part about being woken up at night didn’t seem that much fun either. But Lee had a habit of stumbling in drunk with his latest ‘catch’ and then Lafayette had to listen to him groan for about thirty minutes and then, if the girl left, stand beside their bed to brag about what just happened. So if it wasn’t a scam, then it was worth a shot. And if it turned out to be just that, then Laf would probably resign themselves to live with Lee for the rest of their stay at the university.

 

_ ‘Though there is probably few things worse than living with Lee.’  _ Lafayette mused and then snorted. They hadn’t lived with another person in their age before college, but they suspected that not a lot of people had it as bad as they had. How many people got into actual fight with their roommate? 

 

Laf sat staring at the paper, deep in thought and nearly missed when he heard the lock on the door being turned. Their eyes widened in panic. Quickly they scrambled to put the paper away and start the computer and move into a somewhat natural position. Lee was oblivious to most things but anything that could be commented on that would lead to Lafayette getting defencive was something he was extremely good at finding out. 

 

Just as Lee entered the room they had leaned back against the wall and rested the computer in their lap. The paper was securely hidden under one of the pillows.

 

“‘Sup, frenchy.” Lee said as a greeting and kicked the door shut. It closed with a loud bang and Laf tried not to flinch.

 

“Hi.” Laf didn’t feel like talking to him, and, to distract themself, pulled up the beginning of an essay. It was a boring subject about the difference between European and US economics, but they rather focus on writing than communicating with Lee. Mindlessly they pulled up Google and typed in ‘Difference between European and US economics’, just to  _ seem _ busy and hopefully Lee wouldn’t mind them.

 

“Whatcha doing?” No such luck apparently. Lee had thrown himself onto his bed with his duffel bag beside him and pulled up a sandwich. He held it up high when they glanced at him questionly. “I nicked it from the cafeteria,” He grinned, showing off yellowing teeth.

 

“Sure.” 

 

“Whatever, I’m going out tonight so don’t touch my stuff.” Lee got out between pieces of his stolen sandwich. Laf snorted.

 

“Have I ever?” They questioned and then glanced over the mess that was Lee’s part of their shared room, “And who would ever want to touch your things freely anyways?” Muttered Laf and wrinkled their nose at the thought.

 

“What the fuck did you just say?” Lee snapped, glaring hard at them.

 

“Nothing.” They didn’t feel like getting into a fight, verbal or physical. Mostly because the fights often resulted in punches one way or another.

 

“At least I fucking do stuff unlike  _ you _ . What do you even do beside hang out with your weird stones and fucking plants?” He spat, and okay that hurt. 

 

Lafayette could ignore people if they commented on their clothes and makeup, but it was hard when people pointed out the so-called weird stuff. They hadn’t exactly asked for magic, but it was there, and it wasn’t going away. Nevertheless it still hurt when they were reminded that they were more or less an outsider to the normal society.

 

“Weren’t you supposed to go out?” They said instead of answering Lee, looking down at the computer and to their relief he only glared and got up from the bed.

 

Lee grunted as a goodbye when he left the room and slammed the door shut in the sae loud way as he had done when he came in. Laf sighed, and closed the laptop. 

 

“ _ Merde.”  _ They breathed out before reaching around under the pillow and grabbing the paper,  and read the number to John Laurens again. No way that Laf was going to stay with Lee any longer if they could do anything about it.

 

They grabbed their phone and entered the number and started to write a text, Laf was not going to just randomly call a person if he could avoid it. It took a bit of time and some rewriting but they finally produced a message that was somewhat okay before deleting the whole thing and decided on just sending;

 

**> > Hello, is this John Laurens number?**

 

Laf stared intently at the screen, waiting for the response. They jerked up when a loud ‘ping’ announced a new message.

 

**< < yeah, who’re u?**

 

**> > I’m Lafayette, I saw your paper about needing a new roommate in the corridor and wondered if you were still looking**

 

**< < YES we are!!!**

 

**< < u interested?**

 

**> > Yes, I can’t stand living with my current roommate **

 

**< < bro i feel u so much!!! do u wanna meet up tmrw and we can like talk and actually see each other or something**

 

**> > That would be really good. My last lecture ends around 14, we could meet up sometime after that**

 

**< < sure! i can meet u up then! Herc ((one of my roomies)) get off work around three and can like come by after that**

 

**> > Great! Can we meet outside Espresso House about 14:15 if that fit you?**

 

**< < yeah see you then :^)))**

 

Laf turned off their phone and laid down on the bed, smiling. Tomorrow they might finally be done with Lee.


	2. Gaspeite- Bring assurance and friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh im sorry it took me 2 weeks to update this :'(((
> 
> to my defense this and last week are the most stressful during the whole year and i have had to work from 8 to 22nearly every day it was so awful!!!! 
> 
> But Im free from now on so the net update will hopefully be in a week and I'll try to keep to updating every sunday

 

The next day Lafayette got woken up, to a thankfully empty room, by their phone’s alarm an hour earlier than usual. Normally they could sleep in on Thursdays to 10, have a long breakfast and then go to the seminar that begun 30 minutes later, if Laf wanted to skip out on their makeup. 

 

But today was special, and if they wanted to make a good first impression Laf had to seriously consider what to wear. Slowly, they sat up and rubbed their eyes before stumbling out of the bed and to the wardrobe.

 

Clothes were especially important when it came to first impressions, and Lafayette was not about to meet John Lauren's in sweatpants and yesterday's shirt. They had to look good. 

 

But that brought on a problem and that was what to wear. They could go in what was viewed as male clothing and, to be honest, would raise the chances of Laurens accepting them as a roommate. It was easy to pick out an outfit for that and put it on the bed, just a pair of washed out jeans and a nice shirt to go with it to look a bit put together. But that also meant lying about who they were, and having to come out to John and the two others later, potentially causing a lot of trouble.

 

No, it was better to go dressed as they felt and face whatever option John Laurens might have head on. Then they wouldn't have to hide their gender, and if Lafayette got rejected because of that it would be shitty but at least they would be themself. Besides, they always felt more comfortable and secure when wearing the clothes that they preferred. 

 

Laf quickly checked the weather on their phone, just in case the sun that shone through the window would disappear behind rain clouds and force them to go freezing later. But as luck would have it, the whole day was going to be sunny with minimal clouds which meant lighter clothes and fabrics.

 

Running their fingers through their hair, Laf looked over the dresses hanging in the back and reached out to grab the black one with a white collar. The dress was simple enough, with short sleeves and ending just above their knees. Even if Lafayette usually prefer something with more color and flair, this was the first time they were officially meeting someone new, and it weirdly felt like a job interview. So a half professional look felt better and hopefully would give them the confidence to be on their best side when meeting up with John Laurens.   

 

Though it wouldn't hurt to have something extra just in case…

 

There was a deep velvet box on their desk filled with all their witch jewelry, which Lafayette usually only wore during special occasions or rituals. But today was special and Laf was going to need all the help they could to get away from Lee, and if magic stones was the way to go then so be it. They picked out a long necklace with a gold chain, ending with five pearls and a white crystal and a few rings, just in case. 

 

Throwing a look at the clock, Laf concluded that all the time wasted analyzing what to wear had left them about 20 minutes to do makeup and grab breakfast to eat in class, before the seminar began. So they wouldn't have time to do anything but something basic, which meant skipping coloring their lips and choosing either eyeshadow or eyeliner. 

 

It was in times like this that Laf was extremely thankful for the fact that they did have magic. They had, after many failed attempts, somewhat perfected a spell that made sure that their eyeliner would be identical on both eyes. It saved  _ a lot _ of time and frustration. They supposed that was one of the perks of having magic, to just be able to incorporate it into their daily life to make it easier.    

 

Laf looked themself over in the mirror. Then deemed their makeup and clothes look good enough, before tying their hair up in a bun, grabbing their bag, and rushing off to get breakfast and to the lecture hall.

 

 

 

_ ‘Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!’  _ Lafayette was running late for the meeting with John just because their professor had gotten “stuck in traffic”. Which was total  _ bullshit, _ and such a generic excuse that had Laf rolling their eyes so hard and then worrying that their eyes might fall out of their sockets. But that didn’t matter now, they were 20 minutes late and stressed.

 

They pulled their phone out of the bag and quickly opened it while walking as fast as possible without running. They typed out a message to John’s number. 

 

**> > Sorry I’m late, my lecture ended just now**

 

Hopefully John Laurens hadn’t given up and was still there, waiting. Fuck. What a way to make a first impression.

 

**< < np dude, how long until u get here?**

 

Laf closed their eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God that he hadn’t left. They slowed down a bit and fixed their dress, just to not look that hazzeld when they got there. 

 

**> > Maybe 3 minutes? I’m on my way now **

 

**< < cool cool im sitting on the second floor under the pic of coffee beans **

 

**< < so just get ur drink and come up to me :^))**

 

**> > Okay see you soon!**

 

Finally Laf arrived at the glass doors to Starbucks and walked inside. The que was pretty short and soon it was their turn to order. The girl behind the counter looked tired and her hair was falling out of her ponytail, but she smiled a stale and went on with the standard “Welcome to starbucks! What can we get you?” 

 

“A grande coconut milk mocha macchiato please.” They replied, smiling at the worn barista as she grabbed the cup.

 

“Of course, anything else?” Laf shook their head, “Okay. Your name please?” She asked and scribbled it down when Lafayette answered. They moved on, paid for the drink and grabbed it when another employer called it out. Walking up the stairs they read the spelling of their name, this time it was without one of the T’s, which was kinda impressive, one time their name had turned into Lafajet.

 

A few steps from the top Lafayette stopped and inhaled deeply. Time to meet up with John Laurens and try to turn their horrible living situation around. They could feel their heart beating and knew that they needed to calm down, it would do them no good to be a nervous mess when introducing themself. Besides, John seemed like a nice person, and he wouldn’t wait for Lafayette over 20 minutes if this was a scam. Hopefully. They pressed one of the rings to their lips, it was decorated with a round, smooth quartz that was supposed to help with stress and nervosity. It had been a present from Thomas a long time ago and always helped to calm them down, but if it was because of the stone or just the fact that Thomas had given it as silent support back then was a mystery. 

 

They exhaled through their nose and walked up the last steps.

 

Laf spotted the picture John had texted them about almost immediately, and sitting below it was presumably John Laurens in the flesh. In one hand he was holding a pink frappuccino or something and in the other his phone that he seemed completely engrossed in.

 

They took a moment to observe him, while walking forward slowly. There was a light frown on his face that was covered in so many freckles. Holy shit, Laf had never seen that many freckles on anyone’s face, ever. John Laurens’ curly hair was pulled into a loose ponytail that went down to his jean jacket covering his blue shirt. Lafayette blinked, actually, John’s whole outfit was just different shades of blue jeans color. He looked kinda peaceful just sitting there and slowly scrolling while taking a slip of his drink. 

 

But it was time to introduce themself to John Laurens, and they couldn’t postpone this any longer.

 

Laf stopped in front of the table, lightly cleared their throat and John Laurens head shot right up in surprise.

 

“Excuse me, are you John Laurens?” the asked, fiddling with the strap of their bag. John Laurens eyes scanned over them for a moment before his face lit up with a smile.

 

“Sure am! You’re Lafayette I take?” He said, putting the phone down and reaching forward with his right hand for Laf to shake. 

 

“Yes,” Laf reached forward and took his hand. Laurens grip was strong, and he shook it when enthusiasm. “Once again I’m so sorry that I’m late! I hope you didn’t have to wait too long.” They let John’s hand go before sitting down.

 

“Nah don’t worry about it,” John Laurens simply waved his hand in a dismissive manner before his smile turned a bit sheepish, “Besides I was just about to text you about being late when I got your message… Though my reason is just that I fell asleep.”

 

Laf laughed, relieved. “Oh thank God! You had a late night or something?” He questioned after taking a slip of his drink.

 

“Something like that,” John hummed, and rolled his eyes, “Alex wouldn’t sleep and woke me up with his muttering. He does that sometimes.” He shrugged before focusing on Laf again. Lafayette felt their toes curling a bit in their shoes, John’s face looked relaxed but they couldn’t stop the feeling of being scrutinized.

 

“Speaking of roommates,” John said, and Laf nearly sorted at the transition but settled on nodding instead. “You need new ones.”

 

“Yes. My current one is… awful? I think that’s the best word describe him, anyways, I just can’t  _ stand _ him.” Laf vented, hands gripping the cup hard. “He’s the fucking worst.”

 

“Roommates suck.” John replied, laughing a little. “Except my current one’s of course.” He paused, “Okay sometimes, but most of the time they’re amazing.” 

 

“That seems nice,” Laf admitted and smiled back at John. They couldn't help but wonder how the past time of college would have been if they had lived with someone who didn’t make it into his hobby to constantly be in Lafayette’s way or irritate him in some way. Maybe then Laf wouldn’t have had to decide on what days they could wear feminine clothing because they  _ knew _ that if Lee noticed of found out it would be like living in hell. Maybe then the wouldn’t have wasted so much energy and magic to just secure their whole side of the room so that Lee couldn’t see all the stuff he would have considered unnatural and wrong and just another thing that made Laf weird. Maybe then Lafayette would be able to actually feel comfortable in their skin with a better roommate who would accept them instead of just assuming that they were a man. 

 

The whole gender thing was something he needed to bring up, fast. No way were they going to continue having a good time with John only to find out in the end that he was just like Lee when it came to that subject. No way.

 

“It is!” John said, breaking Laf from their thoughts. “So here’s my idea on how we find out if you are a good fit for us. This weekend or something like that you stay over for like a night and it’s some sort of trial run! We have a mattress and a sorta free room that you can stay in and I’ll try to get Alex away from his computer to actually meet you!” John’s face shone with excitement but the way his fingers rapidly tapped on his plastic cup made it clear for Laf to see that he, too, was a bit nervous. 

 

John seemed to want to say more but took a deep breath to calm himself, “I mean, only if you want too!” He hurried to say, “You seem like a really cool guy and all but if you ain’t fine with it that’s totally okay.”

 

“It’s sound’s great it’s just…” Laf knitted their eyebrows together, it was time to come out to a virtual stager who he had had exactly one verbal conversation with. John looked a bit apprehensive but let Laf continue. “I don’t identify as male. And I prefer the pronouns they and them.”

 

John looked a bit startled and Laf held their breath when he opened his mouth. “Oh,” he said before smiling widely again. “Okay! Thank God I thought it you were gonna say that you thought I was too weird or something and that you would never be able to live with me ever. Oh man!” He laughed and Laf joined, it felt so good that John had barely reacted like what Laf had said was something way out from what was considered normal for most of America.

 

Suddenly, john snapped his fingers, mid laugh “Wait, so what like gender do you identify as?” He seemed genuinely curious and Lafayette felt themself relax even more.

 

“Genderfluid.” It nearly came out as a question, they hadn’t opened up to someone like this in a long time.

 

“Cool cool, so like, should I tell Alex and Herc or do you wanna do it when we met them,” He paused and blinked at Laf, “that’s if you wanna stay over! You really don’t have to!”

 

“I would really like to try your idea actually,” Laf grinned, “And you can tell Alex and… Herc?” It was an odd name but Lafayette was in no place to judge. John chuckled. 

 

“It’s short for Hercules but I don’t have the energy to pronounce his whole name all the time. Ah would this weekend fit for you to stay over?”

 

“Sure!” Anything to get away from Lee, even if just for a weekend.

 

“Great! I can like text you the details when we get closer to friday and we can arrange something then maybe? To be honest I have no idea what my schedule is so don’t be surprised if it turns out that it doesn’t fit for me. God my life is such a mess.” John was smiling so wide and Laf was sure that they mirrored the expression perfectly. 

 

They spent the next two hours mostly talking and getting to know each other Lafayette felt hopeful for the first time in a while. When John got a text from Alex asking him to come home and bring pasta with him on the way they unfortunately had to say goodbye, Laf’s cheeks hurt from all the laughing. It was a good feeling and they hoped that he would like John’s roommates as much as he liked John. He really wanted to keep this new friend. And, hopefully, get a better life out of this. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I've been to starbucks exactly 10 times and have no idea what their routine is or what they say when they greet u
> 
> Also my beta is on vacation this week and i didn't want to ask her to read this and do work while she's away so if u find anything thats wrong plz tell me <3


	3. Orange Spessartine- feeling of belonging (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo its sunday which means Update Time! Once again A HUGE thanks to c-a-love who saved this chapter from being mediocre and made it so much better <3
> 
> Also the word 'fag' is used like once, and while to some it might not be that big of an insult I Fucking Hate that word

It was  F riday, right after the last lesson of the week and Lafayette was  _ exhausted _ .

 

They had been rudely woken up at 7:30 by Lee slamming the door shut to their room as he left for his morning lecture, which had made them cranky and angry , their mood hadn’t improved during the day. After that they had gone to their first class with professor Franklin and struggled to not fall asleep during the whole time because just that lesson apparently contained important information about what was going to be on their finals. But Laf hadn’t been awake enough to take any good notes or to remember anything important, so now there was a good chance that they would be completely unprepared for the test later that semester. 

 

Lunch had been a disaster too, thanks to some girl who managed to spill her cup of soda from McDonald’s on their shirt right before they were about to enter the food court. She had apologized but it didn’t change the fact that Laf had had to go back to their room and put on a new shirt and causing them to miss lunch completely and be late to their next lecture  which was 3 hours long. Oh joy ...

 

Lafayette let out a groan and flopped down on the bed, head press ing down on  the pillow. Their whole day had sucked but at least it couldn't get any worse.

 

Then they heard the unmistakable sound of keys opening the lock to the door and Lee’s annoyingly loud footsteps. Fuck.

 

“You'll never guess who's skipping out on Washington today.” Lee exclaimed, cackling as he closed the door. Everything about Lee was always overly dramatic but Laf was not having that today.

 

“I don't know and I don't care.” They said, voice muffled by the pillow and rolling their eyes. Lafayette knew that Lee came back to the dorm after them, usually they got at least one hour of peace and quiet just for themselves after classes before Lee’s lecture ended. If they were extra lucky Lee would go with some of his ‘dudes’ to their dorms and leave Laf alone for the whole night. But no such luck this time, because nothing that happened on this day could be in Lafayette’s  favour .

 

“Wow! Had a bad day? Did your stones tell you to be a pissed off bitch today or what?” Lee taunted. Lafayette turned their head and glared at him and his ugly smile, Lee seemed so _proud_ of himself for coming up with the taunt and they couldn’t help the feel of disgust that washed over them.

 

Lafayette thought about responding but instead reached for their phone. The first  thing that showed up was the  text conversation they had had with John the night before, securing plans for Laf to come over to John’s flat on Saturday. It had taken place around 23.30, when John really should have been sleeping according to himself, because he had decided to take an 8.10 class on Fridays and would have to wake up early. Laf had gotten at least ten messages just about John complaining about his schedule.

 

“What the fuck are you smiling at? You got yourself a boyfriend or somethin’?” Laf hadn't even noticed that their lips had curved upwards , but when Lee pointed it out,  they made the conscious decision to frown at him. They had gotten the same question before from Lee and knew from experience that answering ‘no’ meant that they were denying it and that not answering meant ‘yes’. 

 

“That's the third time you've said that, are you running out of insults or  are you jealous of my charm?” Laf replied and watched with spiteful amusement at how Lee’s face turned sour. There was a sort of unspoken rule to not mention anything that might hint at Lee being gay. Of course, Laf broke this rule as often as they could. 

 

“What the fuck are you fucking saying you _fag_?” Lee hissed out which made Laf  wince. Today was apparently a bad day for their roommate, Lee usually could come up with a somewhat smart comeback before resorting to just mindlessly spewing insults. 

 

“You heard me Lee, or have your ears stopped working?” They shifted their eyes down to the phone again. “It wouldn’t surprise me.” They muttered.

 

“Are you talking back to me you freak?” Lee growled out, and it didn’t sound like a question.

 

“What if I am?” Laf answered without taking their eyes off the phone.

 

Laf got a book thrown at them in response.

 

“What the  _ fuck _ Lee?!” They exclaimed, covering their shoulder, where the book had hit them, with their free hand.

 

“Just shut your freaky mouth!” Lee’s voice was still the same deep angry tone and one of his hands was curled into a fist. “And get the fuck out if you don’t wanna end up with a fucking rearranged face.”

 

“What?” Lee couldn’t be serious. “This is my room too, you can’t throw me out!”

 

But the look on Lee’s face told Lafayette that he was completely serious. They sat up, put their hands up in surrender while still holding the phone in one hand.

 

“Fine! I’ll leave! It’s better than staying here and be fucking  _ attacked _ !” Laf spat, getting up from the bed before grabbing their bag and flipping off Lee. They were out the door before Lee could do anything. A moment later the door was locked.

 

Running a hand over their face, Laf leaned against the wall next to the door. This wasn’t the first time they had argued with Lee and it ended with Lafayette outside of the dorm room, they even had a sort of routine on where to go and how long it took for Lee to calm down after he had had one of his temper tantrums and when it was safe to return back. It was a bit pathetic that they couldn’t do anything to change it, but Laf had come to the conclusion that it was better to be locked out then knocked out.

 

Speaking of being locked out… Frantically Laf began to look for their room key, first in all their pockets and then their bag. Nothing.

 

“No, no, no…  _ Merde! _ ” Laf clenched their jaw and gripped their phone harder. They had left the key on the nightstand next to the bed and forgotten to grab it when storming out. The chance of Lee letting them back inside later in the evening was minimal at best and Laf was most likely going to have to sleep on one of the sofas in the cafeteria or something. They were going to look like hell tomorrow when meeting up with John.

 

Lafayette glanced down at their phone, maybe, just maybe, they could check in with John and see if they could stay over at his place one day early. Both of them had agreed on Saturday just because it gave John and his roomies some time to clean the apartment a bit and make it more presentable. If Laf explained what had happened, John might hopefully feel enough pity to take them in a day early. 

 

They opened their phone and after a bit of hesitation, began typing out a message to John.                  

 

**> > Hey John I’ve got a bit of a problem. My roommate threw me out and I won’t be able to get back in the room until tomorrow at least, can i come over and stay with you for tonight?**

 

**> > I know we said tomorrow but I would really appreciate it unless it’s an inconvenience for you**

 

While waiting for John’s reply, Laf begun to walk down the corridor and out to the campus grounds. The weather wasn’t as nice as it had been the day before, and it would definitely been to cold to wear a dress but it was just perfect enough for Laf to be able to sit on one of the benches in jeans and a shirt without freezing. They leaned back and breathed in, deeply. They felt a bit calmer, being outside when the weather was calm had always helped them relax after an argument with Lee. Rain and storms were draining for them, unlike Thomas who always got extra energetic whenever a thunderstorm was on it’s way.

 

_ PING _ ! Lafayette flinched a bit when their phone alerted them of the fact that John had responded and they hurriedly opened the text.

 

**< < Hello Lafayette! This is Alexander Hamilton, I’m one of John’s roommates. John’s sleeping right now (he’s lazy like that) so I took it upon myself to answer in his place. ** **You are very welcome to stay with us for the evening/night if you need to and there is no problem with you coming here early! We have an extra bed for you to sleep in if you need and I’m sure that we can find you some clothes to borrow (I assume that you didn’t plan for this to happen and didn’t bring anything with you). Have you gotten our address from John already or should I sent it to you?**

 

Laf raised their eyebrows at the block of text they had gotten from Alexander Hamilton, it was very different from John’s usual style of not using spell check at all. 

 

**> > Hello Alexander and thank you so much for letting me stay! It would be great if I could borrow something from you :) and John didn’t send your address so please sent it**

 

**< < No problem Lafayette, but please call me Alex (John only calls me Alexander when he’s mad at me). Are you on campus now? We live pretty close and it takes about a quarter to walk to our apartment from the main building, so when can we expect you?**

 

**> > Okay! I’m on campus right now so I guess I’ll see you in 15 min or something like that**

 

Laf’s phone pinged with a last message from Alex with the address. They got up from the bench and began walking out from campus, hopefully in the right direction. But it didn’t take Laf long to give up and just decide to look up the directions to the address on google maps and follow them to save themself the hassle of trying to find the street on their own accord.

 

About 17 minutes later they had arrived to the right address and was standing in front of a glass door belonging to the apartment complex. The building was large and more well kept than most of the apartments around King’s College, it was probably not specifically made for broke college students to live in. There were glass panels running all the way up the facade that showed off the spiral stair on the inside and the sun reflected down on Lafayette from them. They tried the door but to their not-surprise, the door was locked. Sighing, Laf decided to text John, or whoever it was that would answer, for help.

 

**> > Hi I’m here, can anyone of you open the door please**

 

They could see that John had read the message, but got no answer back, and while tapping their fingers on the side of the phone and waiting for the response, Lafayette missed the short person running down the stairs. 

 

Their head shot up when the door clicked open. There, in the doorway with a smile on his face, was a person Laf had never seen. He was short, about John’s height if they had to guess, and his hair was a dark brown mess spilling out over his shoulders. There was a pair of thin rimmed glasses perched on his nose and the beginning of some serious bags under his eyes. But the look in those eyes were anything but tiredness, they were filled with eagerness and curiosity, exhilaration and a bit of skepticism.

 

But what stood out the most was the  _ aura _ surrounding the man, bright red like the centre of a large fire. Lafayette had never been good at seeing auras, only if they stayed focused on for a long time without being disturbed and with a lot of magical help could they get a weak look. Even so, this person burned on, it was like feeling the heat of a summer fire crackling in the air around him and Laf nearly wanted to take a step back, to avoid getting burned. 

 

“You’re Lafayette I take.” The person asked, no, more like confirmed, Laf nodded. “Nice to meet you! I’m Alexander Hamilton, please... call me Alex.” His hand shot forward for Laf to take. Alex grip was strong and was just as eager as his gaze.

 

“It’s nice to meet you Alex,” They smiled back and let go of his hand. “Thank you so much for this, really.”

 

“Eh it’s no big deal,” Alex said and led Laf inside the hall and towards the stairs. “We would have met you tomorrow and better sooner than later.” He let out a short laugh “Besides if the excuse was that we would have more time to clean up it was a lie. John  _ knows _ that none of us has the energy or patience to clean the whole apartment, he probably just wanted to sleep.” 

 

They couldn’t help but laugh at Alex’ comment. It was nice that he didn’t act like Lafayette coming here was a problem, but rather something casual. 

 

“Does John often sleep on Fridays?” They questioned, just as they passed the second floor.

 

“ _ Always _ ,” Alex groaned, “It’s his routine, he comes home and goes straight to his room to sleep for five hours and wake up just in time for dinner, it’s super rude and- Oh were here!” They stopped at the third floor and Alex lead them to the door closest the left wall, just across the elevators.

 

“They’re broken.” Alex explained and gestured to the metallic doors, “But we live on the third floor so it’s not that big of an issue, though I feel bad for the people on the twelfth floor.” He said as he opened the door to his apartment. 

 

The hall was small, there was just enough space for Laf to stand beside Alex. To the left of they stood a clothes hanger overflowing with different jackets and shoes dispersed all over the floor. Alex kicked of his worn out shoes and Laf did the same, then followed him into the rest of the apartment. The first thing they saw was the kitchen, with stainless steel applications and sleek white benches. There was a kitchen table standing a bit to the side, overflowing with books and papers except for some small spaces in front of three of the chairs, which Laf presumed was just enough space to eat on.

 

“There is usually more books on the table, but I had to put some away ‘cause according to Herc we actually need some place to eat on.” Alex said with a nonplussed look on his face, like he couldn’t believe that eating was more important than books. “Anyways, when you choose a seat take one on the left side of the table, then you can see the TV in the living room and you don’t need to turn one-eighty degrees every night.”

 

“Noted.” Laf responded with a smile on their face. They followed Alex past the kitchen and arrived in the living room part of the apartment. Unlike the kitchen which looked up to date and high class, the living room contained two old leather sofas and a well used coffee table made out of wood with stains that was standing on a blue, sun bleached rug. The TV was standing on a low shelf with just rows upon rows of DVDs. 

 

And, on the sofa, with one arm thrown over his eyes and the other hanging down to meet the floor, was John Laurens.    

 

“Hey John,” Alex had walked forward and was shaking his shoulders slightly, “You gotta wake up ‘cause we have company.” There was no response, John continued to sleep on. Alex let out a loud shigh.  

 

“Fine, if you want to be that way.” He muttered before gripping John’s shoulder hard with one hand and his hip with the other. Then he pulled hard and John fell onto the floor.

 

“What the  _ hell _ Alexander?” He exclaimed, and let out a harsh breath. “You always do this why can’t you just wake-” He cut himself off when he saw Lafayette, a panicked look entered his face. “Is it Saturday?!”

 

Laf shook their head “No it’s still Friday, I just had some trouble with Lee. My roommate.” They added when Alex raised his eyebrows.

 

John nodded and reached up with one of his arms. Alex gave another long and loud sigh and rolled his eyes before grabbing hold of John’s forearm and helping him up to his feet. When John touched him, the read light around the area cooled down to a deep purple like the sky in the evening. The both of them stood still together for a moment, smiling at each other before John uttered a soft ‘thanks’.

 

“Well!” John exclaimed clapping his hands loudly once, then turning to Laf with the same bright smile that he had worn the first time they’d met him. The place he had grabbed Alex on was still the same purple hue even after he had let go. “Now that you’re here you get to experience our Friday routine!”

 

“It’s not really a routine though...” Alex whispered to Laf, ignoring John’s dramatic gasp.

 

“Don’t believe him! It’s totally a routine!”

 

“It’s only a routine when you wake up a bit early and have time to not text Herc to order indian food and have enough time to actually cock something edible!” Alex argued back, and Lafayette couldn’t help but laugh at the outrageous look on John’s face. 

 

“So? We’re three people right now! I bet you ten dollars that we can finish cooking and set the table before Herc comes home!” John said, crossing his arms and smirking at Alex. 

 

“You’re on!” He declared, before turning to Laf, “You are okay with helping out right?”

 

While Alex was smiling, Laf felt very much like the question was a test to see just how much they were willing to help out. If Laf were willing to keep up the routines and unspoken rules of the apartment. 

 

“Of course!” It had been so long since they had made a home cooked meal and they hadn’t even realized how much they’d missed it before they were standing in the kitchen,looking around. “It sounds fun, and I wouldn’t want you to do the job all by yourself. After all...I was the one who got here unplanned.” Judging from Alex’ satisfied smile, they guessed they answered right.                     

 

“Perfect! Now..” John opened the fridge and looked inside. 

“We only have pasta, tomato sauce and like bacon, but I’m sure we can figure something out.” Alex let out another groan and rubbed his eyes under the glasses before glaring at John, his whole demeanor seemed to scream ‘Are you serious?!’. 

 

The teasing smile Alex got in return was ten times as joyful as the one Laf had gotten just a bit earlier. Laf looked at them, before shaking their head and went to help Alex figure out what to do with the few ingredients they had at their disposal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it feels abruptly cut of it's because I realized around 2,500 words that I had to split it into 2 chapters and continue to introduce one character per chapter so Hercules is up next!!!!
> 
> Fun fact: A canon for this fic is that alex uses parentheses wayyy too much


	4. Lapis Lazuli -  considered the stone of friendship (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is late but like I didn't have access to a computer the whole weekend or internet, i had to go up super early this whole week to get to work and i just broke up w my boyfriend. So yeah life isnt that fun and im super tired all the time
> 
> BUT i will try to update on sunday this week!!
> 
> once again thanks to c-a-love who is the best and has to correct all my misstakes and the weird phrases that comes from me translating stuff directly to english like im fucking google translate

Thankfully Laf, John and Alex had managed to get the food done 10 minutes before the usual time Hercules arrived home to the apartment. The pasta had turned out fine and in the end John had decided to blend it all together into one big mess of cheap pasta, tomato sauce and fried bacon pieces, sprinkled with basil. The basil plant had been half dead, buried under printed papers when Laf had found it while cleaning up a space for them to sit and had been rescued by their magic. It would have been suspicious if the whole plant looked like the textbook example of perfect living basil, so Laf had settled on just fixing some of the leaves then giving it some water and placing it on the window.

 

“Well,” Alex said while drying his hands on a towel. “This looks edible but if it isn’t I’m blaming you two.” He snickered and Laf shared a look with John.

 

“Mhm and why is that? I remember you participating in cooking the pasta and also nearly failing in doing that. You will get… the most blame? can you phrase it like that?” They asked, furrowing their brows.

 

“I think so, it’s not wrong at least.” Alex responded, pushing his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose. “I’m guessing you’re from France? I wanted to ask earlier but it didn’t seem like a good time and then we had to make sure that John didn’t poison the food so I didn’t have time then either and I didn’t know if it would seem rude ‘cause I would have been kinda offended-” He took a deep breath and Laf had a suspicion that Alex would continue to ramble speak on if they didn’t cut in.

 

“Yes! I’m from France, I guess you could tell by my accent?” Laf did a vague gesture around their mouth with one hand and Alex smiled back, relieved, though his cheeks were the same red as the aura surrounding him. For a moment, Laf wondered if all auras changed depended on the mood of the person in question , or if Alex was an exception.

 

“To be honest you could’ve just been from Canada.” John said and in response Alex shoved his elbow into his side. “Hey!”

 

“Just because you  _ can _ say anything in this country John, doesn’t mean you  _ should _ . Especially not stupid comments.” Alex was joking and John only scoffed. It was nice to observe and maybe they would have joined in, but playful insults wasn’t something Lee had liked and it was difficult to not expect a serious threat in reply wich would lead to a dispute. 

 

Still, they laughed along with Alex, with John eventually joining in.

 

“What time is it ? Herc should be home any second now.” John glanced at the clock on the microwave and the door opened.

 

“I’m home! Sorry if I’m late I ran into Peggy and lost track of time...” The voice trailed off. “John, you didn’t tell me we would have a guest over.”

 

Hercules, for who else could it be, stepped inside the kitchen and Laf felt all the air in their lungs disappear. His skin was like dark, expensive, roasted coffee without milk and his broad shoulders were covered by a grey shirt and a worn out denim  jacket. He looked well dressed, even in such simple attire . Hercules had a somewhat angular face , with full lips, dark eyes and brows furrowed in confusion. He ran one hand through his short, cut hair, the tight curls just peaking up above the fingers before.

 

“Yeah I forgot about that.” All the air rushed back in Laf’s lungs when John spoke and they shifted their eyes back to him, regretfully.

 

Alex shot him a pointed look. “You had time to text Herc that he shouldn’t pick up food on the way home but not the time to mention that Lafayette was here?”

 

“Okay so it wasn’t that thought out but Lafayette is here now!  Let’s just focus on that!” John hurriedly said before turning to Laf, “So this is Hercules, Herc this is Lafayette- our potential future roomie.”

 

A look of realization passed over Hercules face and he smiled, it was a warm gesture and the skin around his eyes crinkled. Laf had to smile back, they stuck their hand out to shake . “It’s nice to meet you.”

 

“Oh it’s my pleasure.” Hercules said, laughing a bit,grabbing Laf’s hand and meeting their eyes. His grip was firm and Laf duly noted that their hand was just a bit longer in comparison. Their main focus was on his eyes. If Hercules body was coffee then his eyes were the night sky, dark with no distinction between iris and pupil and the light that reflected on them were like stars.

 

They had gotten instant-crushes before, walking down the street or in a coffeehouse. Though these  were superficial and based on nothing but physical attraction. But the crushes never lasted and it was safe because Laf wouldn’t be seeing that person again. Now it was one of their maybe future roommates.  _ Fun _ .

 

Hercules let go of their hand and turned to John, his shoulders relaxed. “So you’ve made food?”

 

John nodded with a proud smile on his lips and lead the way to the table. 

 

During dinner time they stayed quiet for the most part, each of them focusing on their own plate. The awkward silence left Laf feeling a bit uncomfortable. . They wanted to say  _ something _ , to break the half tense atmosphere but nothing good came to mind.

 

Laf looked up from their plate and was met by a curious stare from Alex. “So Lafayette,” He laced his fingers together, resting his chin on them. “How come you wanted new roommates? John didn’t tell us anything and, to be honest, you would have to be pretty desperate to look at that awful poster John made and decide to give it a go.”

 

“My poster was better than the  _ essay _ you were writing!” John protested and Hercules hummed. 

 

“Both of your poster ideas were terrible, but at least John’s got us someone out of it.” He gestured towards Laf, and they felt a small heat rise in their cheeks. “So what got you interested?”

 

“Well…” They started and began to explain the situation that was Charles Lee. They told them about how it had been okay during the first few months but Lee’s temper and their inability to not bite back had lead to a lot of tension and then later fights. They complained about Lee’s nightly activities and the way he had to comment on everything they did and how it just had been verbal arguments that ended up in books and other objects being thrown. They described the feeling of unease the first time Lee had locked them out and the recurring dread  that he would have sabotaged their part of the room every time it happened. When Laf talked about the way they had felt the need to hide their gender from Lee to not make him even more violent and the way they had to sneak around with it, they got more quiet . 

 

It was like a flood, as soon as they started talking they couldn’t seem to stop until all the hate for Lee was out in the open.

 

Lafayette glanced around at the three friends whilst fidgeting with the end of their shirt under the table. John looked horrified, with both his mouth and eyes wide open and Alex had put his hands down, they were clenched into fists on the table and his jaw was set. There was a disgruntled look on Hercules face and also something else, like he could imagine what it was like for them. A bit familiar , but not in a good way.

 

“ _ Fuck _ .” John broke the silence. “Okay there is no way you’re staying with  _ that _ fucking asshole.” He stated and Alex nodded vigorously in agreement.  

 

“Absolutely! We can get the room ready like this week and until then you can sleep in the living room.” Laf stared at the two of them, this was not the response they had been expecting. At the most they were prepared for some pitying looks and some awkward comments about how the situation eventually would solve itself. Not any of...  _ this _ .

 

“You don’t have to see it as a permanent solution but I can promise you that we’ll be ten times better to live with than  _ him _ .” Hercules said which made  Laf smile.

 

“Yeah I kinda gathered that.” They joked and Hercules snorted, nose scrunching up a bit.

 

“So do we have a deal? You’ll move in here and say bye-bye to Charles fucking Lee once and for all? Well unless you have classes with him, then you can just flip him off or something.” Alex looked excited, eyes gleaming and his aura had gone from dark red to a candy apple shade that was bright and a bit pulsing.

 

“We have a deal.” They said, and both Hercules and John whooped.               

  
  
  


The clock on the microwave showed 01:03 when John stepped outside the bathroom ready to go to bed. It had been an eventful evening and he was so looking forward to getting some shut-eye. . 

 

But first, there was something he needed to do.

 

Quietly he walked past the living room/kitchen where Lafayette was sleeping soundly on the sofa with one arm thrown over their eyes. John guessed that between the four of them in the apartment, they had been the most tired and he couldn’t blame them. When Lafayette had told him that their roommate was bad John had just assumed that Lee only ate garlic bread and listened to music too loud or something equally annoying. Not that he was such a truly  _ cruel _  person.

 

He stopped in front of Hercules’ door and knocked on the wood carefully.

 

“You can come in.” Herc responded and he stepped inside. The only source of light came from the small lamp beside the bed, casting long shadows over the room. Hercules was sitting on the bed, dressed in a worn t-shirt and pyjama pants. Beside him on the bed lay  the skin colored binder Herc usually wore. John frowned.

 

“Did you wear your binder the whole day?” He questioned in a soft voice. Herc looked guilty and nodded, rubbing his ribs a bit with one hand.

 

“I just didn’t have a chance to take it off.” He explained. John knew it wasn’t technically true, but Hercules would never not wear his binder when meeting new people and Lafayette had already been there when he got home. John wasn’t about to force Hercules into situations where he felt uncomfortable, no matter how much he worried about his friend’s health. 

 

He walked over and sat down beside Hercules and yawned. “Are you okay with this? I know you were kinda opposed before but Lafayette seems like a great person so maybe this will work out.”

 

“It’s okay. I’m still not for the idea that you and Alex pay your part of the rent while I split my part with Lafayette but...” Herc took a deep breath, if it was because of  nerves or the fact that he was tired John didn’t know. “If it’s the best way to save money for my top surgery then I can’t be against it.”

 

He smiled to John and it was a tired worn smile, filled with appreciation and so much more stuff that John was way to exhausted to name. It was a nice smile anyhow.

 

“Should we tell Lafayette?”

 

“Later, but it should be a part of the deciding factor if they want to stay.” Herc mumbled out.

 

“Yeah,” John yawned again, “But I don’t think they will have much against it.”

 

“Me neither. You should go to your room though, before you fall asleep in my bed.” Hercules rubbed his eyes and John rose from the comfortable mattress slowly.

 

“Mhm, I’ll see you tomorrow. G’night Herc.” He said and opened the door. 

 

“Good night.” Hercules replied and John was free to stumble to his bed and the long awaited sleep.       

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can pry trans Herc from my cold dead hands
> 
> Fun fact: the recommended time to wear a binder is 8 hours, less if its your first time wearing it! 
> 
> Also next chapter will have Magic!! and lots of it!! Woohoo!!!


	5. Sunrise Quartz - joy and happiness, and the fire and passion of red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS LATE AND IM SORRy
> 
> As always a HUGE thanks to my wonderful and amazing beta and other half of my soul C-A-Love who saves you from seeing the mess that is my un edited writing <333
> 
> And also a shout out to Memejean who comments fills me with happiness even after i was a bit rude to them <3

“So let me get this straight- you decided to move in with three people, two of which you have only meet once, all based on a stupid paper hanging in the hallway?” Thomas questioned, eyebrows raised and doubt clear in his eyes.

 

“Actually I’ve been eating dinner with them this whole week.” Lafayette corrected before taking a sip of their lukewarm white pomegranate tea. Thomas had invited them to come over to his studio apartment mostly to catch up but also to question the latest changes in Laf’s life. They had no idea how exactly Thomas knew that they were planning to move, they hadn’t told anyone yet. “But other than that, you’re right.”

 

“Seems like a plan that just cannot go wrong.” The sarcasm was dripping from each word. “But it’s better than who you’re currently living with.” Thomas leaned back on the chair, further than what should be possible without falling over, flicking his wrist and snapping his fingers. The tea in both of their cups heated up with three sugar cubes sinking down into Thomas’ delicate cup as the spoon began to stir clockwise.

 

Laf often found a certain sense of comfort coming to Thomas’ apartment. The whole place was filled to the brim with magical objects or items which had been enchanted by Thomas in order to be more effective. They liked how the candles sitting in the small chandelier never burned down,how the flames would change color and that all of the plants on the small balcony could be used in most recipes (both normal and magical). The old and worn spellbooks on the overflowing bookshelf added even more charm to the place. The old kettle standing near the window which Thomas insisted on using every time he had to make a potion instead of just cooking it on the stove was a nice detail and they appreciated that magic was simply a part of the apartment, just like the tapestry.

 

Though there were some things which  weren't as pleasant. Such as  the small, black, locked door near the kitchen that always gave Lafayette the chills when they passed by. Or the way the magic in the air responded to Thomas mood and made everything darker and more sinister whenever he got angry and the fire in the candles would become so raging Laf worried it would burn the whole apartment  to the ground. Thomas had always bound his magic close to his temper and it was easily affected by minor things for example  the weather or small arguments.        

 

“Yeah, Lee isn’t so pleasant.” They hadn’t told Thomas the whole truth about the Lee-situation, mostly because of his temper but also because Thomas could be a bit overprotective. They were distant cousins but Thomas, in lack of having his real siblings on campus, had developed some sort of older-brother complex. Laf was not used to being babied like this, they were an only child and had grown up largely self sufficient  Having someone enter their life so suddenly  was a bit...  _ weird.  _

 

“Anyways!” They said loudly, distracting Thomas and getting rid of his frown. “You needed my help with some potion?”

 

“Not now but in two and a half months. Have you moved in by that time though?” He asked, checking his phone to see what date it was.

 

“Probably, we’re planning to start moving my stuff this weekend and try to get everything done during the week but I’m thinking about using some sort of transportation spell to save time … Also the elevator is broken so... you don’t happen to know any helpful spells do you?”

 

Thomas shook his head, making the curls bounce. “Not from the top of my head but I‘m sure that I have book that could be helpful. Ah, also, can you check if your window - wherever you’re moving - is facing the east and if the first or second hour of the sun hits the window? The recipe was very specific about that.”

 

“What are you even  making?” There was an unofficial rule in potion making; the more specific the instructions, the more powerful the potion.     

 

“Ah, this.” Thomas said, and a book landed in front of Lafayette with page .306 opened.

 

Laf’s eyes widened, “You're making a love potion?”

 

Thomas looked annoyed. “It's not a  _ love _ potion per say. It helps the person who drinks it to act on existing feelings, it doesn't create new ones. Besides it's a one-time use only, a love potion would work multiple times.” 

 

“Okay so why are you making your non-love potion? It's not for yourself right?” If so, Laf would be very confused. Last time they checked Thomas had been in a long and committed relationship.

 

Thomas rolled his eyes in the over dramatic fashion only he could muster. “No of course not, don't be stupid. It's for Dolly, she needs it to ‘get the courage to ask a cute girl out to winter prom’ according to her. I'm doing it as a favor.”

 

“And you do not want to get on her bad side by saying no, because she is James’ little sister which means you are very scared of her.” Laf teased, watching in satisfaction how Thomas squirmed in his chair before clearing his throat.

 

“So you need a transportation spell right?” Laf gave him a look, but nodded anyways and decided that the change of subject wasn't a bother. “Okay. There is a few varieties of spells you can use but I would recommend these…” Laf zoned out when Thomas began spewing words, they would get a quick summary of the the spells in the books. Besides, Thomas could be a bit… self-centered and most of the things he recommended were intertwined with stories of when he himself had used them, after awhile it got a bit boring.

 

They focused on the cacti standing by the window just behind Thomas’ shoulder instead of him and slowly moved their hands under the table, feeling their magic coursing over the tips of their fingers like the touch of feathers. The cacti began to bloom, light purple flowers near the bottom, followed by blue ones and continuing to change colors to match the rainbow. Laf glanced at the clock, hanging on the wall and sprung up.

 

It was twenty past seven!  _ Fuck _ they were supposed to visit John, Alex and Hercules by six! They were so late!          

 

“ _ Merde! _ Thomas I have to go I’m very late. what books can I borrow?” It all came out in a rush as Laf stood up and grabbed their bag which was hanging on the chair. Thomas blinked at them before he also rose up.

 

“Humm, take these.” He flicked his wrist three times. Three books came rushing in through the air and Laf barely had time to open the bag to catch them before Thomas lead them to the door and it opened by itself. “Have a safe travel.” 

 

“Thank you, I’ll come by some other time! And I will check the window!” They promised and waved goodbye and ran down the stairs, taking two steps at the time. Laf pulled up their phone when they got down to the street fully prepared to call John and apologize, only to find it completely dead.

 

‘ _ Of course. How could I forget?’  _  Thomas, for all his brilliance when it came to magic, had never been keen on mobile devices and most of the spells in his apartment had the unfortunate side effect of canceling phone signals or turning off electronic devices. No wonder they hadn’t been disturbed by their phone the whole evening, it hadn’t even been working. 

 

Laf sent a spark through their magic to the phone to make it jump start and felt their stomach sink when they saw the amount of messages they had missed. There were at least 12 from John, 5 from Hercules and 4 from Alex and a missed call from John. Great.

 

They nearly ran down the street, trying to avoid walking into people and simultaneously reading the last text’s John had sent them.

 

**< < hey laf where u at?**

 

**< < hello**

 

**< <  are u coming or what**

 

**< < srsly**

 

**< < ok so alex said that u might have been kidnapped and i think he was joking but im not sure so plz respond**

 

**< < dinner is over but we saved some of the food for u if ur just very late**

 

**> > I’m so sorry that I haven’t responded! I was with my cousin and lost track of time, can I still come over?**

 

Laf hoped they still could come to the apartment, they had begun walking in the direction of John’s, Alex’s and Herc’s place when they left and while the walk back to the dorms was short, the evening wind was chilling and the thin leggings they wore didn’t help with the cold.

 

**< < of course you can come! we just put on a movie but we can pause and make more popcorn to u**

 

**< < when will u be here**

 

**> > 5 minutes maybe? I’m on my way right now**

 

**< < okay see u then!!! :^)**

 

They let out a sigh of relief and slowed down, walking the rest of the way in a slower and reasonable pace. They arrived in front of the building exactly 5 minutes later and went up the stairs to the correct floor. The elevator was still broken.

 

The door to the apartment opened before they had knocked and Laf was greeted by the usual grin John wore. “Yo! You came after all!” 

 

“Yeah sorry about that, I was with my cousin and lost track of time and my phone died and I tried getting here as fast as possible-”

 

“No no it’s okay! You’re here right now right? Anyways do you want food ‘cause Alex made way too much omelette and we will have leftovers for days.” John rolled his eyes but he was still smiling and walked back inside with Laf.

 

“I am good actually, but you said something about popcorn?” They smirked and John laughed, running his hand through his long hair.     

 

Laf walked into the kitchen after John, dropping the bag on the floor and turning to say hi to Hercules, only to be a bit distracted. Hercules was stretching up to reach for something on one of the top shelves, shirt riding up a bit to show off a part of his back and the pair of, well, Laf swallowed, way too short shorts. The blood rushed to their cheeks and they wanted to look away, but Hercules’ thighs looked  _ amazing _ . Hercules’ legs were the same dark, lovely color as the rest of his body and they looked strong, with muscles flexing as he stretched upwards and his skin was probably  _ so _ smooth to the touch. 

 

Laf let out a breath they didn’t know they had been holding when Hercules finally managed to grab the apparent bowl he was looking for and stood back down  again. Which didn’t help much, but it was enough to get Laf’s lungs back on track and their eyes unwillingly focused on Hercules’ face.      

 

“Sorry if it’s a bit hot in here, Alex can’t stand any sort of cold so all the heaters are on.” Laf didn’t really focus on what John was saying and just nodded. “Herc can you make more popcorn please?”

 

“I’m already one step ahead of you John!” Herc called back, and held up the bowl, now filled with popcorn. “Hi Laf! Nice that you could drop by!”

 

Herc smiled and Laf grinned back, they must have looked like an idiot with their lips stretched so wide that it hurt. “Hello! It was nice that I could drop by!”

 

“Well of course, it’s friday which means movie night! Usually there’s more people here but since you have known us for like one week we thought it would be, kinda, nicer and calmer if it was just the four of us to begin with.” Herc smiled to himself, like it was a joke that Laf wasn’t a part of. They hoped that they could be though, later.

 

“WELCOME BACK LAF!” They got interrupted in their  _ not _ -admiring of Hercules by Alex’ shouting from the living room. Laf looked over, and Alex was half laying on the sofa, with a blanket thrown over his legs. It looked way too warm, Laf could just feel the sweat forming as if they were the one laying there. The glow around Alex wasn’t it’s usual intense, fiery red, when he bounced around the apartment and talked with his hands so much he nearly spilled out his glass of water during the dinners. Now it was a deeper red, like fine wine. They  _ really _ needed to ask James Madison about auras, he was practically a professional and Laf was beginning to worry there was something wrong with Alexander. 

 

“Hi Alex, you look cozy.” Alex only grinned, and reached for the popcorn already standing on the worn table between the two sofas.

 

“It’s very warm!” He exclaimed in between bites. “You got here right on time, we are, like, ten minutes into the movie. It’s about an FBI agent that needs to go undercover at Miss United States and stuff. You’ll understand when we start playing. It’s a stupid comedy but John loves that movie so we watch it  _ way _ too often.”

 

“Alex you’ve made us watch  _ Silence of the Lambs _ at least twice as many times as I’ve made you watc h  _ Miss Congeniality _ . That movie is horrible so you have no room to talk.” John said and sat down on Alex’ legs, ignoring his complaints. 

 

“It’s a great movie!”

 

“Yeah but I can do without having to watch it every two months, can’t you be more creative?”

 

“We can watch  _ Lolita  _ next time if you want.” The look Alex got was of pure horror and Laf felt their face screw up in disgust. 

 

“What the fuck Alex? No! I’ve had enough of fucking Humbert Humbert for it to last a lifetime.”

 

Laf nodded, “It’s not a good movie nor book.”

 

“ _ See _ !” John said and gestured to them. “Someone here has some common sense! Wonderful!”  

 

“I do not think  _ not _ liking such an awful man should be considered wonderful but thanks for the compliment?” They sat down on the sofa across from Alex and crossed their legs.

 

“It was just a suggestion, gosh don’t be mean!” He whined and took another mouthful of popcorn. “Hey Laf, what’s your favourite movie?” 

 

“Nice change of subject there, real smooth.” John muttered and Alex punched him in the leg.

 

“Ah,  _ Stardust _ . It’s the movie where a man falls in love with a star, have you seen it?” John and Alex started to snicker. 

 

“So many times! Both Hercules and Peggy love that movie and you can bet that it will be played every time Peggy can choose a film. For Herc it’s either that or  _ Fight Club _ .” Alex said and John snorted.

 

“Are you done criticising my tastes or do you need another minute?” Came Hercules voice from behind Laf and he walked over, placing the second bowl of popcorn in front of Laf before sitting down on the sofa as well.

 

“We’re done.” Alex declared and dragged the blanket up to wrap around his torso. “And we can start the movie now, as soon as John get’s up and turns the lights off.”

  
  
  


A yawn escaped Lafayette’s lips as the credits from the third movie they put on rolled across the screen. They were about to fall asleep, just like the rest of them in the room. John had dozed off first, sometime around the beginning of the second movie and was now half laying over Alex, both of them nearly breathing in sync. Hercules had been the next one to sleep, also during the second movie and his lips were parted with deep breaths escaping. They tried not to stare but they were too tired to look away. They observed the way Hercules eyelashes looked against his cheeks and how his face was completely relaxed.

 

Alex had informed them that it was ‘practically a rule that you have to sleep on the sofa when it’s movie night’  and had then done exactly that just moments later. The aura around him seemed to fluctuate with colors constantly as he slept.

 

They rubbed their eyes and frowned as mascara got smudged on their hands. laf had completely forgotten about wearing makeup and if they didn’t get it off their skin would be terrible the next morning. Letting magic flow into the palm of their hand, Laf slowly dragged it over their face and let it get rid of all the magic until their skin was clean again. They continued with the magic and made both of the bowls that had been filled with popcorn long ago travel into the kitchen and lastly turned the TV off. The room went dark, with only the faint glow from the moon outside the window to cast any light.

 

Yawning again, Laf leaned back against the sofa and Hercules, just so that their shoulders were touching and closed their eyes.

 

“Hey, Laf you still up?” They flinched when they heard Hercules slow and sleepy voice and sat up straight.

 

“Was just about to fall asleep. How long ‘ave you been awake?” They held their breath and tried to keep the panic out of their voice. If Hercules had seen all the things they had done a memory spell would definitely be needed and that was dangerous, the risk of Hercules losing more than just a minute of his memories was big and there was no way to recover them.

 

“Just now… Have you been awake this whole time?” Herc’s voice was slow and filled with sleep and his eyes were only halfway open. Laf took a deep breath, willing their nerves to calm down. Hercules hadn’t seen anything, it was fine.

 

“Yeah, but I was about to sleep. I didn’t feel like moving.” from the faint light coming from outside they could see Hercules nodding and rolling his shoulders.

 

“Could you do me a small favour Laf?” He asked and they could hear, was it nervousness, in his voice? It wasn’t something they were used to hearing, but maybe Hercules was going to ask them to move away from him, which they didn’t want, because Herc was warm and soft and they were too tired to try and move from the soft spot on the sofa.

 

“Sure?” 

 

they heard Hercules exhale and waited for him to begin speaking. “Could you turn around for a second please?”

 

Laf didn’t give him a verbal answer and just turned around to stare into the kitchen, observing how everything looked in the dark and tried not to close their eyes and falling asleep. The clock on the microwave showed 01:15. They could hear the sound of fabric moving and the way Hercules shifted against the leather on the sofa. It was quiet for a short while before they could hear the sound of joints cracking and coughing. Their brows furrowed, was Hercules taking his shirt off even if he was sick? He hadn’t seemed bad earlier during the evening… Maybe it had happened during the hour he slept, though it seemed a bit ridiculous.

 

“Ah you can turn back now if you want, unless you have fallen asleep.” 

 

“Not asleep, not yet.” They muttered back and turned around. The first thing they noticed was that Hercules had put his shirt back on, which was good, Laf didn’t think their poor blood pressure would be able to handle Hercules in just shorts. The second thing they noticed was, well, Hercules’  _ bosom _ . “Oh.”

 

“Yeah… Is this okay?” Hercules rubbed his neck, looking down at the floor.

 

“What? Yes! Of course! I eh-” Laf’s entire face felt hot, honestly had they lost all sense of speaking. “I wasn’t expecting it, that’s all!”

 

“We were planning on telling you during breakfast tomorrow, but now is a good time as any I guess.” He shrugged and looked Lafayette right in the eyes. “So I am transgender, I’m sure you’ve already figured it out based on this.” He gestured to his chest and Laf nodded, eyes not leaving Herc’s face. “And the whole point of you moving in here is basically so that I can begin to save money and afford my chest surgery. Is that okay with you?”

 

His voice was completely serious. Lafayette hadn’t known that they would be having a such important conversation at 01:18 in the morning and there was no way to really be prepared for someone you had only known for a week coming out as transgender, but they  _ knew _ how it felt to be the person coming out. They  _ knew _ the feeling of having your heart nearly beating out your chest and the fear of getting a horribly terrible reaction.

 

“There is absolutely no problem at all.” Lafayette also knew the feeling of relief that came with being accepted and the small rush of happiness that followed, they recognized the way Hercules shoulder relaxed and the smile on his face. It was feelings they were very familiar with.

 

“John thought you would say that, considering your pronouns and everything.” Herc said and hummed. “Though you’ve never said what you identify as… Not that you need to tell me!”

 

Laf laughed, quietly. “It’s okay, I’m genderfluid and only use ‘they’ pronouns. I know that some people don’t really care what you call them but for me ‘they’ just felt more  _ right _ , you know?”

 

Hercules nodded, still smiling. “I can imagine.”

 

“Yeah,” They took a deep breath. “Tell me if I am overstepping some line here, but is there any way I can contribute with money to your surgery? Because I have more money that I know what to spend it on and…” Hercules had shook his head and they trailed off.

 

“No, no this is something I want to afford by myself. I know it’s very expensive but I need to be able to say that I worked hard for it and earned it. I can’t accept your money, it would feel wrong. Besides it was hard enough for John and Alex to get me to agree to do this.” He looked vaguely guilty. “Not that I don’t want you here! Because I do, I really do! You fit in really well with us and I can’t wait for you to move in here!”

 

“Honestly, I can’t wait either.” They looked into Hercules eyes and there was a new spark there, something like excitement mixed with the feeling of recognition and understanding. 

 

“Great! Alex already got you a key by the way.” Both of them laughed, and Laf leaned their head back against the sofa, they wouldn’t wish to be anywhere else in the world right now.

 

The clock on the microwave turned 01:39 when both of them fell asleep, Lafayette nearly leaning on Hercules and their chests rising and sinking in sync. Cars passed by on the street outside and the moon shone on, unnoticed by the four people sleeping in the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update when it comes to me publishing chapters: I can't update every week, that doesn't work with my schedule. so from now on it will happen sometime between 1 and 2 weeks, but this also means Longer chapters!!! Woohoo!!
> 
> Fun Fact: Laf can charge their phone with magic and the movies that the squad watches are Miss Congeniality, Labyrinth and The man who fell to earth!
> 
> (Fun fact that wont be in the fic but like i just have as a thought: Laf believes that thighs are way better than butts, but boobs deserve to be worshiped like the gift from the gods they are.)


	6. Jasper- imparts determination to all pursuits (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What another split chapter? Yes cuz I do not know how to stop myself and its 23:35 here so I'm still on time!!
> 
> This chapter is not beta'd because C-A-Love has other thing to do so you will unfortunately have to live with my bad spelling
> 
> And i had to delete 2 comments last time cuz i had published two of the same chapters and IM SO SORRY ABOUT THAT XC (wow thats a myspace emoji)

Laf woke up with the sun streaming in from the window and hitting them right in their eyes. 

 

They squinted against the light, holding out their hand to cast some shade and cranked their neck. Falling asleep on the sofa had not done wonders for their back and it cracked and popped as they begun to move around. Hercules was still sleeping and they felt a flush on their face when they realized how close they had gotten to him during the night. They were basically draped over him, head resting on his shoulder and aggressively cuddled up against the rest of his left side. Hercules was lucky that he hadn’t been pressed thin while sleeping. 

 

John was lying down on the other sofa, head on one of the armrests, snoring away with a blanket thrown over his body that Laf was sure Alex had been bundled up in last night. They could see the dust floating around the room in the morning light and the basil on the window, someone had placed it in a small white vase and small flowers had grown out on the top. The air smelled of fresh coffee and the popcorn of yesterday and was filled with the sound of someone tapping on a keyboard.

 

Laf looked towards the kitchen (ignoring how their neck protested) and caught sight of Alex sitting at the table surrounded by books and papers and a steaming cup of probably coffee beside his computer. There was an intense look on his face and Alex hadn’t even noticed that they were awake, he had only eyes for the screen in front of him and whatever he was writing.

 

“Good morning.” 

  
  


Alex didn’t look up when they spoke. One of his hands did a little wave before he went back to typing. They toyed with the thought of slamming the two steel bowls that were standing on the table just to see if Alex would react or if he would continue focus on his computer. Laf suspected it was the latter. 

 

Their stomach decided to interrupt their thoughts with a small rumble, to make it clear that the popcorn eaten last night was not enough to replace breakfast. 

 

With a deep sigh, Laf got up. Their back popped even more when they stretched and Laf made the decision to never fall asleep on the sofa again if they could help it. They had done it once, there was no need to do it again. 

 

It felt a bit weird to move around the kitchen without Alex making a sound. Usually when the shorter man was present there was a constant stream of words coming from his mouth, filling up whatever space of silence there could be had. Often Laf didn’t even have to articulate a response to whatever Alexander was saying, they were just required to be close enough to humm now and again.

 

But sitting down at the table with a sandwich before them and not get any reaction was  _ eerie _ . If it wasn’t for the fact that Alex had no connection whatsoever to witches or anything else deemed unnatural, Lafayette would have thought he’d been hypnotized. 

 

Nonetheless, 21 minutes later, according to the microwave clock, Alex stopped tapping. Laf looked up from where they had been scrolling through the phone and took in the sight that was Alex with his glasses askew and stretching his fingers. 

 

“I’m fucking  _ done _ .” There was a drained look in his eyes that not even coffee could get away and Laf felt pity course through them. No one should look so exhausted outside of exams week.

 

“With what? By the way- good morning.” Again.

 

Alex blinked at them. “Is it still morning? Huh, I’m usually done around eleven or something.“ he mumbled before running his fingers through his hair. “And I’m writing an essay for a dickhead named James Reynolds. It’s a sort of second job. I only work part time right now and, well, it brings in just enough money but it’s nice to not put everything away on rent and groceries you know? So I do this for Reynolds and get some money for the trouble, I think he’s overpaying me but  _ I’m _ not gonna tell him that.”

 

The aura around him turned to a deep red, like the color on Lafayette’s special-edition gryffindor harry Potter cover they had gotten long ago.

 

They honestly didn’t know what to make of what Alex had said. Laf was pretty sure that what Alex was doing wasn’t illegal but probably would get him into trouble, but they had never been in the same situation money wise. “That’s… good.  _ Maybe.”  _ They added under their breath in french.       

 

“ _ Quoi? What do you mean ‘maybe’?”  _

 

Laf gaped at him. “ _ You didn’t tell me you spoke french! _ ” They raged.

 

“ _ There was never a good time or I just forgot to mention it! _ ” Alex defended, but there was a big grin on his face. Laf sputtered in response.

 

“ _ That’s no good reason to not tell me! And how do you even forget to mention it? _ ”

 

“ _ It just happened. In the beginning I was thinking about it every time I heard you talk, you have that accent you know, but then I got used to it and yeah…”  _ Alex shrugged and took a slip of his coffee.

 

“ _ Sure _ .” They said, and narrowed their eyes a bit at him. 

 

“Anyways,” Alex continued in english, “Have you decided if you want to stay with us? ‘cause rent is coming up and we need to know what your decision is before that. Trials time’s over.”

 

Alex was staring at Laf, face neutral and waiting for their answer.

 

“I’m-,” They shighed. “Yes. I would like to move in here. If you haven't found someone better that is.” They joked and Alex smiled sideways.

 

“Nono, you’re great! We just need to start moving things out of the room as soon as possible then and you will need to pack as well! It would be best if we can get this done before next month, is that okay?”

 

“The lesser time I have to spend with Lee the better honestly.” They rubbed their forehead. “Hopefully he hasn't ruined anything that was mine while I was gone.”

 

Alex snorted. “Sue him if he does, and in that case I can be your lawyer.”

 

“You're a lawyer?” They questioned, and the aura around Alex seemed to swirl with different shades. It was really starting to annoy Laf,  _ why _ was it there? What purpose did it even serve?

 

“Not yet, but in 3 years. It would have been 1 year if Aaron Burr would give me some actual advice instead of just  _ ‘talk less’ _ and  _ ‘smile more _ ’ which is bullshit!” Alex slammed one hand down on the table. “And the school won’t allow me to do it in 2 years either!” 

 

Laf nodded meekly. “Have you tried talking to James Madison? He completed it in 2 years too.” Which they only knew because of all the time Thomas spent either praising James for his accomplishments or condemning him for ruining his own health. Sometimes it was both.

 

“Yeah.” Alex dragged out the word. “He’s in my poli-sci class and we wrote some essays together but he just tells me it’s not worth it!”

 

“Are you talking about Burr again?” Came a voice from behind Laf, and they turned around to see who it was.

 

“No it’s Madison this time John. If you’re my best friend like you claim you are you should at least keep track of the people I hate.” Alex answered and held out his cup. “Can you fix more coffee for me?”

 

“No. You have legs, use them.” John said before walking past both of them.

 

“Rude.” Alex muttered.

 

“Anyways.” John said, sitting down with a cup of coffee for himself. “What’s happening today for y’all? Me and Herc are planning on going to the store and buying the cheapest food that isn’t instant noodles later, but that’s about it.”

 

“Well I finished Reynold’s essay so that means I can start on the one from Franklin, and I have to go and work later.” Alex shrugged and grabbed John’s cup. Laf expected John to complain, but he only sighed and got up to get another. “Oh! We have to start emptying my room, if Laf is going to stay here they need a room and a bed to sleep on and it’s better economically wise if we could get the whole thing done by the end of this month. No need for you to pay for your dorm room next month also.” The last part was directed to them and they nodded.

 

Honestly, Laf could care less if they had to pay rent for october as well, the fact that Lee would be out of their life was worth infinitely more money than that. They probably would have said yes to moving in even if Alex had told them that they needed to pay the whole rent alone. Maybe.

 

“I need to get back and fix some things in my room. I might come back later tonight though, if that is okay.” They weren’t actually going to go back to their dorm.

 

“Sure, when are you planning on leaving?” John asked and looked at the clock. “It’s only 9:35, you could go around eleven. Then we can all have brunch or something.”

 

“Like we have enough food in the fridge to even make breakfast.” Alex commented and flicked John’s shoulder. 

 

“To be honest I was hoping that Laf would be the one doing the food.” John shrugged his shoulders when they looked at him.

 

“ _ What? _ ” 

 

“You helped us with that pasta remember? Me, Alex and Hercules have agreed that you will have to be the official cook in the household, because none of us can make more complicated stuff than, like, an omelette. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.” John sounded completely unapologetic when he spoke and Alex was nodding along. 

 

“I made you one dish and suddenly I’m a master chef?” They asked, tone dry.

 

“Yes. It’s how it works here, you just gotta get with the status quo.” Alex said and then added, “And yes, I stole that from High School Musical what are you going to do about it John?” 

 

“Stop having Peggy come over so that she can’t corrupt our movie nights.” John muttered, before brightening up and looking at Laf. “We could have a second movie night tonight! Then you can meet everyone that we are friends with and that will hopefully become your friends to!”

 

Laf thought about it. Meeting new people wasn’t something they had a problem with, but they wouldn’t be really close with anyone there. The risk of being left in the background was pretty big, though they supposed it was for the better to meet the people who Alex invited over once every month to watch movies with. If it was five copies of Lee then Laf was going to move out of the apartment before they even had moved one box there. 

 

“I think you will have to buy more popcorn in that case.” They said at last.        

  
  
  


“When the clock on the microwave turned to 11:34 Laf closed the door to the apartment and walked down the street to find a bus that would take them to Brooklyn. 

 

They had switched shirt before they left, not wanting to walk around in something that they slept in, and was now wearing a way too loose shirt that belonged to Hercules. Not that it mattered who’s it was, but John and Alex were  _ tiny _ in comparison to Lafayette and they would rather look like a trashy hipster than someone who didn’t know their own size. Hercules was a few centimeters shorter than them, but not enough so that it was noticeable in the leght. Rather, it was painfully obvious that Laf’s tall and slender frame could be fitted twice in the shirt that was fitted to Hercules broad shoulders, chest, arms and muscles. Which they totally weren’t thinking about. They were also not thinking about how  _ wonderful _ it was to burrow their nose in the neckline and just breath in the mix of fabric conditioner and the scent that was just Hercules himself, no, not at all.

 

Laf was thankful that they had gotten such a warm shirt though. The sun that had been out in the morning had been covered by dark clouds that brought with them a strong wind filled with cold air. It was apparent that summer was going away. 

 

It hadn’t taken them long to find a bus stop for the bus they were looking for, but during the short time they walked and stood ad waited, they couldn’t help but miss the warmth of the apartment. When the bus finally came and Laf walked inside they were glad that it was warmer in the air, but that was about it. The bus was old and it felt like it could fall apart at any moment and the gray walls and blue seats didn’t give off a particularly inviting look.

 

Laf had taken this route before and knew that it was always a traffic someplace down the road and it could take them anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to get to their stop. To have something else to do other than to stare down at their phone, Laf pulled out the books Thomas had given them yesterday.

 

The first one was just large on all ends, with an old hardback cover and a lock that was open. The pages were yellowing and looked like they had been laying in a damp basement for a century. They flipped through the pages and most of the text’s were in either french or latin and just one or two was in old english, but they were not even going to try and read those. They struggled enough as it was with reading french from the 1600’th century, it was not going to be easier in English. Thomas had been nice enough to put bookmarks in all the books on what spells he thought was most useful and it would save Laf a lot of time instead of having to read every title in the book.

 

The second one was the size of a normal pocket book and looked just like one, the only difference was that this book’s cover was made out of leather with fancy carved out patterns. It had been treated better than the other, the pages were in a better shape and most of the text had been translated to english, Laf could see how the letters rearranged themselves just as they turned a page- the telltale sign of a translation spell.

 

There were two other books that were no bigger than Laf’s hand and the writing was in such delicate cursive that they couldn't make out what it was. There was a post it note on one of the books with the words ‘Need’s an enlargement spell’ written on,  but Lafayette was pretty sure they could have figured that out themselves. Books did not come in that tiny sizes.

 

Reading about different spells and transportation circles were about as fun as reading a course book so Laf spent most of the time trying to figure out how they could hide 20 extra moving boxes suddenly appearing in their room without Hercules or any other noticing. None of the plans they came up with were secure enough that they would actually be used.

 

After 50 minutes of sitting on the bus it finally pulled up at Lafayette’s stop, and they all but rushed out to get out of there. 

 

They had arrived in a quieter part of Brooklyn, where it wasn’t a lot of tourists and the houses weren’t as new. There was a closed down shop across the street in one of the apartment complexes, with plastic over the windows and boards nailed to the entrance to keep people out. The whole place looked run down, like it had been standing there for years without anyone caring about it.

 

It was, of course, a disguise. 

 

You couldn't enter from the main street that they were standing on Laf knew. Instead they walked all the way around the house to be able to get access to the back alley from the other side. The narrow walk was coated in shadow and turning everything a sort of gray color, a side effect of having too many notice-me-not spells in one place. In the middle if the bricks was a green door, with a polished brass knob and a sign with ‘The Herbal Garden’ hanging above was the same green and brass color. They opened the door and walked in.

Inside was as warm as the apartment had been. Worn sofas and armchairs were placed around small round tables made out of wood. The air was heavy with spices, there was plants growing up one wall and different carpets all over the floor. Most of the lights came from a soft magic glow that was all over the place but seemed to completely disappear in the corners. It was a normal tea house, just that everything was magical and the product assortment weren’t the same as a regular starbucks. 

 

All sorts of people were sitting in the room and workers in green aprons walking around, but Laf wasn’t here for them. They walked past a girl blowing a butterfly out of her hand and straight on towards the counter. There wasn’t anyone there to take their order, but Laf knew that wasn’t needed, not here.

 

“Hello. I would like to get one cherry and mango tea, a lemon cake, black coffee and some advice.” They waited until the cash register gave a pling, before looking at the price, ’6 dollars and a spell for good luck’. “I can give you the 6 dollars now and then the spell later. I need to meet with James Madison so I’ll pay him the rest.”

 

They placed the bills on the counter and watched as they faded away before moving on to sit down at a table for two near the counter. There was a dried rose standing in a vase on the table  and Laf was distinctly reminded that they needed to buy more potion ingredients after they had moved. 

 

“It’s not often I see you here alone Lafayette. Often Thomas has to drag you here.” James was standing before them, dressed in a black shirt and wearing the same apron as any other worker. His blank, completely white eyes were staring at them.

 

James was, in Lafayette’s opinion, an okay person to be around and since he and Thomas was basically married, Laf met him often. But there was one thing that they never got used to, and that was his eyes. James had the same pupil-, and iris-less eyes as any other medium but James’ had always been very reflective and Laf always got the feeling that he was looking a dead persons eyes. 

Most of the time James wore very realistic contact lenses to make it look like he was more human, but in a place like this there was no need for that and the white stare could terrorize Lafayette freely.     

  
“I need some advise in your area of  _ expertise _ .” They began and took a deep breath. “It’s about Alexander Hamilton.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like i've had a bad week and I'm not too proud of this chapter, it's mostly filling of tuff that needs to be done o the story can progress but not the most fun to write about
> 
> Fun Fact: This fic was from the beginning supposed to be a Alex/john/laf/herc fic with kinda the same plot, but it seemed a bit ambitious to try that for my first published fic, but I might write a one-shot if i get the time
> 
> Other fun fact: I will write on tumblr if im ever late with a chapter so go follow me at [@Newspapernom](https://newspapernom.tumblr.com)


	7. Jasper - Heals the Chakra, crystal of energy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is late by like a week and im deeply sorry for that
> 
> I've had 3 terrible past weeks that rendered me to crying at least once every day due to stress and anxiety and other things. therefore i didnt rly have the drive to finish writing this chapter until today
> 
> ALSO: My lovely best friend C-A-love is of to Med School and rly needs to focus on that so I was thinking about getting a new beta reader!!! If you are interested message me on Tumblr! And there is no need to have an experience at all the only thing u need to have is an email adress <3

_“I need some advise in your area of_ expertise _.” They began and took a deep breath. “It’s about Alexander Hamilton.”_

 

James Madison stared at them. “It’s interesting that you assume I would know what you need help with just based on a name. He paused, and Laf opened their mouth. “Fortunately for you I know who you are talking about.”

 

“You do?” They raised their eyebrows and James nodded.

 

“We worked on a project together. Hamilton is not a person that is easily forgettable.” There was a short pause. “We can take this discussion upstairs and I’ll bring your order up, just take a booth that is free and sit down.”

 

Laf blinked. James Madison was gone.

 

The chair didn’t make a sound against the rug under it as they rose up and walked over to the side of the counter. There was a old and rusted spiral staircase made out of metal placed a bit in the corner with fairy lights decorating it. It creaked when they walked up and the steps, and Laf were careful to not disturb the fairies, it was well known they could get _very_ embittered if provoked.

 

Laf had never been on the second floor, but it was very different from the main cafe downstairs.

 

The roof was raised high with arches and painted white and wines growing along the sides. Long drapes hung from the ceiling, isolating the few booths, and candelabras was standing on every table. The candles were just like the ones at Thomas’, with different colored flames. It reminded Lafayette of the expensive restaurants back in France that had the same white tablecloths and low lighting, except back there weren’t grays armchairs with fluffed pillows.

 

There was a table with two of the armchairs just by the railing that Laf sat down by, sinking down in the soft cushions. From there they could see all the customers below, the girl that had been blowing butterflies before was holding a cup in her hand and chatting with a friend in front of her, baristas was walking around with orders and having new one appearing on the pates the moment after they had placed the former down. The magic was all around and so _casual_.

 

Lafayette had missed this.

 

They had missed the way it felt to be surrounded by magic, the low hum in the air and the way everyone was free to show of their abilities. They had missed using magic for the most simple things without having to worry about who might see or what someone might suspect. They hadn’t realized that isolating their magic was hurting them, but it was an outlet that they hadn’t let go of in a long time.

 

Magic was a part of them just like an arm, that they had let fall asleep and it was now waking up, with a sticking and tingling feeling. It was _odd_ , but not an unwelcomed feeling.

 

“Here’s your order.” Laf jumped and the candles flickered. James was standing by the table, holding a tray filled with their order.

 

“Ah, _merci beaucoup_.” James placed the cake and tea in front of Lafayette and then placed the cup in the middle of the table. He sat down in front of them in the other chair, and Laf tried not to squirm under James’ blank stare.

 

“So -” James begun before breaking off into a horrible cough, his whole body rattled and it sounded like he was trying to get his lungs up from his chest. Laf looked on concerned but did nothing. When the coughs went away James let out a loud sigh and swallowed before continuing. “I’m sorry about that, it’s terribly inconvenient. Anyways, you wanted to know about Hamilton correct?”

 

They nodded, and under the table their leg started to shake, this was _it_. They were finally going to get some answers.

 

“Yes! He has this, I don’t know what it is really, _aura_ around him. I have never seen anything like it before and I know that all souls have something like that but I have never seen it myself before. I thought it was only something mediums could see?” They tried to explain, but it was so hard to convey what they had seen when not even they fully understood it.

 

“You are partially right. I can see Hamilton’s, and every other person’s soul as well, but his is very bright and that is very rare. You have the fortune to be able to see just a little bit of his soul,” James face screwed up, like he was thinking of something unpleasant. “It’s like looking into a damn spotlight for me. Hamilton is like a beacon of red light that I can see through walls if they aren’t thick enough.”

 

“So his soul is just bright? That’s it?” Laf relaxed, they had hoped it was something simple as that and nothing that was harmful to Alexander.

 

James stared at them. “Nothing is ever that simple Lafayette. Hamilton is a _Sarkwat_ . In English they would call him a _Walking Glory_ . It’s a rare phenomenon that can be caused by a lot of things, but Hamilton could be considered special. He has this… self made destiny to be great. Which isn’t something special in itself, most people are destined to be something remarkable, but he lives only for that dream to become more than he is now. And your soul always strives to be the best it can ever be, and to have your heart, head and soul focused on one monogamous goal is very unique- that is what makes a person to be a _Sarkwat._

 

“Now being a _Walking Glory_ itself isn’t the problem. But you aren’t the only one who can see Hamilton’s soul and _that_ can be dangerous. Consuming something, _anything_ from a walking glory is like steroids for your ambitions, and there is a lot of people who would do anything to get their hands on an easy way to the top. Sarkwat’s have been hunted down and killed for their gifts for as long as people have known how to get their abilities. Hamilton is completely unaware of the treasure that is inside of him, and I’m frankly surprised that he is still alive after all this time. He is a target with a red spot on his back for all Corrupt.”

 

Lafayette swallowed, their heart was racing and a frosty feeling spread over their body. This was not good, not good at all.

 

“Is there any way he can hide it?” They ignored how there was a tone of desperation in their voice.

 

“Maybe.” James shrugged. “A normal conceal spell won’t work, but there is a potion… The only problem is that it might not work, most of the time we are the only one that see the souls of walking glories, but that you notice it makes me wonder if it would be enough.” James fingers tapped on the table in a rhythm.

 

“Do you have the recipe?” Their shoulders fell when James shook his head.

 

“No not personally, but Thomas has it.”

 

Of course Thomas had it, that man had enough books to start a library. “Can you get it for me? I already got three books from him and I don’t want to ask for too much.”

 

“Sure... but you know Thomas won’t mind right? He would probably give you a house if he could.” James smiled and Laf let out a small laugh before turning serious again.

 

“Can I ask you something more? Is it normal for souls colors to change? Alexander’s is very _moving_ , I think would be the best word to use, when it comes to colors. It red usually turns purple sometimes.”

 

“It turns… Purple? What? Souls can fluctuate in colors, yours have done it quite a lot today, but change colors like that? When does it do that?” James looked more confused than Laf had ever seen him.

 

“I do not really keep track of it… It just mostly happen when John is near?” They shook their head and a string of hair fell out of their bun. “I just thought it was something more that was weird about Alexander… Not something that made him weird- _er_.”

 

Suddenly, James smiled. It was small, pleased smile and he tilted his head a bit. “His soul changes when he is with John, huh? Well then there is a simple answer for that; Alex is in love with him, or at least his soul is.”

 

“Are you sure?” Laf furrowed their brows. There was a lot mediums could see from a single soul, but to determine something so quickly from just their vague description was a bit… unbelievable.

 

“Yes, believe me. It might just be brotherly love, but there is definitely some sort of love there- to allow your soul to be influenced by someone else’s soul,” He paused, “That is not something to be taken lightly.”

 

“Oh.” Laf didn’t know what to say.

 

“But it’s not something you need to worry about at least. Love is not harmful.”  Lafayette wanted to roll their eyes so hard.

 

‘ _Love is not harmful. Right. A medium is telling me that love is not harmful, how hypocritical can one be?’_ Mediums were not known for being _kind_ to their sort, and there were some terrible rumors surrounding how one became a medium. Some were true, some were not. Lafayette knew, from a conversation had with Thomas one late night filled with wine, that children of mediums had to die to get into the ‘professionalism’.

 

James had died, or rather been killed, by pneumonia and his parents neglecting to give him medicine or taking him to a doctor when he was seven. It had been a slow death, dragging on for a long time and ending with James taking a last, rattling breath in his bed at 4.56 in the morning. His parents had been so proud. It was tradition that the children of medium should die by natural causes to make them more accessible by spirits and it was seen as the greatest thing a parent could give their child.

 

But James was still alive, with half a soul occupying his body, phantom coughs from a sickness long gone and white eyes to prove it.

 

For one morbid moment, Laf wondered if James soul reacted to Thomas’ as strongly as Alexander’s reacted to John’s, or if the half soul made it impossible to be that influenced by someone. If it was possible to even love someone when you weren’t even whole.

 

they squeezed their eyes shut for a moment. The thought was ridiculous, you loved with your heart and not your soul, and Laf hadn’t seen a single hint that James heart wasn’t wholly devoted to Thomas.

 

“Lafayette?” James voice startled them, and Laf realized that they hadn't responded to James former statement. They gave a sheepish smile as an apology.

 

“Sorry, I was lost in thought… I think I got everything I came for, thank you so much for that.” There were a lot of things they needed to think over and they needed some peace and quiet to sort it all out. Besides, if they wanted to have time to go to the dorm and then get back to Hercules and the others at the apartment before the the other guest arrived as well.

 

James nodded and stood up. “Of course. But you still have to pay that spell for good luck.”

 

To be honest they had completely forgotten that, but it wasn’t something they were going to admit out loud. “Sure! How about I do the magic and bring it down to you and you can wrap my cake in something so I can take it back to my dorm?”

 

James nodded, got up from the chair and picked the cake up on the tray. He walked down the stairs holding the tray in one hand by his head like something from a cartoon and Laf marveled at his balance for a second before getting to work.    

 

They rubbed their hands together and felt heat build up between them. It didn’t take long before gold and blue sparks shot out between their fingers and Laf opened his palm, revealing a small ball of energy floating there. It wasn’t anything special yet - just some raw magic floating, but it would be, as soon as they added the right words.

 

They began bouncing the small ball up and down as they started to talk. “ _Count a clover leaf by leaf - Count it leaves to four. Pluck it, keep it in your cup, be lucky evermore.”_

 

As they spoke the blue slowly turned green and it got smaller, more energy concentrated in a smaller area and it begun to turn warm. They repeated the rhyme again and the magic heated up more and more. They threw it up in the air for one last time and the spell fell right down in the coffee mug on the table. It begun to sizzle and a thin gold layer floated to the top of the liquid. Coffee for a Good Day.

 

The coffee was steaming as they brought it down to the stairs to the counter where James Madison was dutifully waiting with a small box where they presumed their cake was.

 

“Here you drink this in the morning and it should give you luck all day.” Laf said and shrugged. “I’m not sure _how_ much luck it gives but, you know, that’s how these spells are.”

 

“Yeah Thomas had a period where he would only drink Coffee for a Good Day and after a while the effects got weaker just like caffeine. He was so disappointed.”James was smiling softly as he handled the white paper box over to Lafayette.

 

Laf laughed “Seems like something Thomas would do. Say hi to him from me?”

 

“Always. I’ll see you around Lafayette, you’re always welcome here.” James said and they turned around and waved farewell.

 

As they walked out they saw Theodosia Prevost drinking a Pepsi and brushing a strand of her blue hair behind her long back-pointed ears filled with piercings. Her long nails tapped up a rhythm on the tin can and she glanced up at them as they walked past and they both nodded to each other. She was the only person who’s eyeliner _might_ rival their own in sharpness.

 

The alley was the same when they stepped outside and Laf retraced their steps back to the same street as the bus stop and waited for the bus to take them back. There was so much to think about concerning Alexander and the threat his ambitions was to himself as well as the whole thing with John. Laf let out a breath. How were they supposed to handle the knowledge that Alexander could be the most wanted being among the Corrupt?  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: James Madison is Kurdish in this and the word he uses for Alex is a name that means "Upwards-climbing"!!!! 
> 
>  
> 
> hmu on tumblr if u just wanna talk OR if ur interested in being my Beta [@Newspapernom](https://newspapernom.tumblr.com)  
> <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter, I'm sorry for that.
> 
> There is a half-sort of panic attack describe at the end, so if that isn't your thing just ignore the last 5 paragrafs

The bus ride back to King's’ College took what felt like an eternity.

 

Lafayette felt like there was half a world resting on each of their shoulders, weighing them down.

 

Each breath felt heavy and their face was tense from frowning. They had gotten the answer to their question and a deathsentece for Alexander at the same time. If it was like James said, that Alex was a  _ Sarkwat, _ then they could start preparing a funeral speech.

 

Laf had always thought that the title  _ Walking Glory  _ was the most accurate name given to the  _ Sarkwat. _ Most of the time they were not seen as alive beings, but rather as a enhancement for your talents, and there was a lot of people in the world willing to feast on such a glory. Most humans did not know about these people, they were strictly visible for those with supernatural blood in their veins, mostly because magic thrived of success and constantly searched for a way to evolve. 

 

Witches in general had a pretty good idea of how much magic they could use before it got to bold and corrupted them. There was nothing pure or forgiving or menacing about magic in itself, it just had to grow and take up any space left untouched for such was its design. There were some philosophers in the magic world that believed that the human, or “normal”, part of each magic creature was the thing that stopped them from being completely consumed by the powers and often pointed towards the way werewolves lost all their level- headedness when they turned to a complete humanless form. The creator of the theory had been a vampire is worth pointing out.

 

But werewolves had one night of being corrupt, there were people who had been fully consumed by magic and was more a shell for an ever hungering force than human. Lafayette had never encountered one of those creatures, they could not be called anything else, but their grandmother had, and once during a sunny afternoon she had told him about her meeting.

 

_ “It was long ago you should know, I was a bit older than you but not by much. It was in Nice, we used to have property there- not now though I sold it after that, and me and my mother had just had a dinner with another old family. The rain was pouring down and neither of us had brought an umbrella and just as your great-grandmother was about to turn a bunch of my favorite flowers to the umbrella we so desperately needed a man stopped by us.”  _ She had paused then, and looked him straight in the eye. There had been something in her gaze that Laf had never seen before, a sort of resigned cold fear.  _ “I remember him handling the umbrella he had been carrying over to my mother, the handle was beautiful, made out of dark wood I remember, but I do not know what he spoke to us. My mother had denied his help at first but he must have insisted or enchanted her to take it.  _

 

_ “I met his eyes before he walked off, and there was nothing in there that resembled humanity there, it was frightening. Those eyes were swarmed with hunger. It was like looking into a burning pit of ice. But it was only for a moment, before he made his way down the street, and me and my mother stood and watched him as the rain parted for him, it too was afraid of him. _

 

_ Mother burned the umbrella as soon as we got home, and spent the next weeks constantly looking over her shoulder. It is no good to be in debt to a creature with so dark insides you understand. He never returned, but mother was always careful after that evening.” _

 

The story hadn’t made much sense for Lafayette back then, they had been young and unaware of the dark ways of magic. As they had grown older their grandmothers fear was made more and more clear. 

 

Those corrupt by magic was ferocious and had no boundaries, they had started countless deadly conflicts because of the smallest things. But nothing compared to the slaughter that happened after a Corrupt’s found and devoured a  _ Sarkwat.  _

 

For any magic being it was easier and a mercy to anybody else if they just took their own life, but Laf couldn’t exactly ask for Alexander to jump off a roof just to spare him his own death. Besides that would involve a long and complicated explanation that Laf really didn’t feel like doing.

 

They knew there had to be  _ some _ way to survive as a  _ Sarkwat _ to old age though. There were records of it happening before so there had to be a chance for him to live, but Lafayette had never really been interested in ‘ _ Walking Glory Protection Class’, _ just because they had never suspected they would ever get in contact, let alone become good friends with one.

 

“ _ Ugh _ .” They rubbed a hand over their eyes, and rose up to follow all the other students of the buss when it stopped in front of the university. 

 

Laf walked forward in a haze, mind still clouded with worry and desperately trying to find a way to solve Alexander’s problem short of killing him or his ambitions. They shouldered a lot of people, but most moved out of their way and Laf suspected that they looked like someone who just found out they were going to fail all their courses not even six weeks into the first semester.

 

They followed the usual path they took back to their dorm room, and walked down the long corridor to where the door was. Honestly, they just wanted to collapse in their bed head-first and not think about anything for like 5 hours and then have the answer to all their problems in some old book they could borrow of Thomas. The last thing was a little more impossible than the others, but they wouldn’t say no to sleep for any money in the world right now.

 

They opened the door and promptly lost all hope.

 

Lee was sitting on his bed with his laptop, and big, ugly green headphones on. Maybe if they took a step back he wouldn’t notice and Laf could tail back to Hercules and fall asleep against his shoulder again. It sounded much more preferable than Lee.

 

“Yo, where the fuck have you been?” Laf closes his eyes and exhaled, apparently that was not going to happen either. Lee was looking up from whatever he was doing, eyes lazily scanning over Lafayette.

 

“Out.” They really didn’t want to talk to Lee right now, but from the terrible grin on the other’s face they would probably have to.

 

“Mhm, you have been ‘out’ a lot lately.” He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. Laf felt their stomach drop with dead and just general hatred. “You got some girl I don’t know about? You should bring her here, or are you afraid I might steal her away?”

 

Laf had never met a person who liked to stroke his own ego so much as Lee, or someone who did it as frequently. “There is no girl. Can you just let me sleep?”

 

“Wait are you gay?” Lee looked at them bizarrely. “Is that why you’re gone so often? You’re off fucking some dude?”

 

“ _ No! _ ” Laf did not have time for this, they just wanted to be alone and have a moment of quiet. Was that so much to ask for? “Can’t you just leave me alone?”

 

Once again, Lee seemed to ignore their question. “Holy fuck you totally are! Do you take it up the ass? Oh man I bet you do! You probably even like it don’t you-!”

 

“For once in you goddamned life  _ stop talking. Get out of this room and don’t talk to me, don’t look at me and don’t even think about interacting with me for a month! Go! Now! _ ” It felt like their mouth exploded, words poured out like a waterfall and their tone was as deafening as one as well. 

 

Lee stared at them for a second and opened his mouth, but it got snapped shut and his head turned to the left so fast Laf would have been worried he got whiplash had it been any other person. He rose from the bed and the computer fell to the floor, Lee was moving like marionette, jerky movements and no power of his own. Laf could see a rising horror in his eyes when he passes them and made his way out the door.

 

It was quiet. 

 

“No.” Laf moaned, and covered their whole face with their hands. “No, no, no, nonono…” They had enchanted Lee, a normal human being without even noticing it! How had they missed the way magic had poured into every word they had spoken. They had practically  _ cursed _ Lee! 

 

This was not good. This wasn’t good at all. Nothing this day was going as they had planned. 

 

It was just too much. Too much with Alex. Too much to think about how to solve a problem they never had been able to imagine. Too much to think about what Lee would do when he figured out what happened.

 

Blood was pumping in their ears and they could not get enough air in their lungs. There is something crawling all over and inside Lafayette’s body but they can’t  _ focus _ . They sink down on the floor, senses overwhelmed presses the heel of ther hands against their eyes.

 

They stay like that, locked in panic, as the room around them explodes in magic.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I just now realized that it would be so cool if Laf had a cat... I might incorporate that later...  
> Other fun fact: It's my birthday on sunday!!! Im turning 18 so hmu on tumblr then and wish me a happy day or something ;)
> 
> ALSO!! We are nearly at a 1000 hits!! How crazy isnt that!!!! As a sort of celebration I wanted to start to know y'all a bit better so for this weeks chapter I wanted to ask you:
> 
> What are you listening to this week? What is your top 3 fave songs/artist/album/podcast/whatever and give a little description if u feel like!  
> Example from me:   
> 1\. Florence and the machine (delilah is a piece of art!)  
> 2\. The Adventure Zone (If u like d&d this podcast is for you! I'm so in love with all the characters and im re-listening to my fave parts rn <3 honestly the McElroys have outdone themselves)  
> 3\. The Last of the real ones by FOB (AMAZiNG)
> 
> Love you all and I'll see ya next chapter or in the comments :3


	9. Interlude: Texting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi it's an interlude or extra piece and not this weeks chapter! Double update!

**> > Hey**

  
  
  


**> > hey**

  
  


**> > Thomas**

  
  
  


**> > open your phone**

 

**> > I cant send you a fire message every time. That paper is way too expensive even for me**

 

**> > seriously**

 

**< < Sorry, I was using my phone as a bookmark. What do you need?**

 

**> > Do you remember when you cursed a waiter for spilling hot water all over you?**

 

**> > and there was a bunch of other humans so you kinda caused a big scene?**

 

**< < Yes and it’s not something I particularly like to recall.**

 

**> > how did you solve that? I know you didn’t go to the department because then youd still be filling out a bunch of paperwork and have restricted magic**

 

**< < I just made a lot of memory alterations that’s all, it was exhausting but worth it but it must have gotten to you too since you don’t remember it.**

 

**> > Do you think that it would still work even after like a day or something? Asking for a friend**

 

**< < That depends on what your friend did Gilbert.**

 

**> > Don’t call me that Thomas. You know better.**

 

**> > they might have cursed their roommate to basically not be able to notice their presence for a month**

 

**> > ...and created a minor magical explosion in their dorm, if that helps as well**

 

**< < Christ. Why isn’t said friend taking care of this problem right now?**

 

**> > because said friend is currently eating tacos and avoiding the problem like an adult**

 

**< < I hope you at least cleaned up the room before you fled.**

 

**> > Just my part, Lee won’t notice the difference**

 

**< < Great, at least you did something.**

 

**> > Not the point but thank you, anyways do you think a memory altering spell would work? Because it was pretty bad, we’re talking move-out-of-the-room full body possession and a complete drain of my magic and idk how severe the curse will be he might just ignore me for my whole life which would be great if it wasn’t for the fact that I basically controlled his body for 20 seconds which he definitely noticed **

 

**< < You are panicking right now Laf. Calm down. Nothing can’t be solved by a memory spell, even though you’re not that efficient in them I’m sure your skills are more than adequate in this case.**

 

**> > i hope you know that youre not as reassuring as you hope to be**

 

**> > Merci beaucoup**

 

**< < No problem. Is the taco any good?**

 

**> > NO holy shit I thought you were a bad cook but somehow there people managed to fuck up a dish almost made completely out of cut vegetables and like 1 thing that is actually cooked**

 

**< < I give you advice and you repay me by insulting me.**

 

**> > I insulted a lot of people in that sentence don’t feel special**

 

**< < At least you seem better right now. Don’t forget that you need to check the window for the potion I’m making for Dolley. **

 

**> > right your not-love potion! The two first hours of the suns light needed to hit it or something like that?**

 

**< < Yes, and it needs to be there for 3 days in a row, I’ll send a strand of Dolly’s hair by fire message if it’s right, and you will need to boil the potin over a green candle for 40 minutes and stir clockwise while adding the hair after 15 minutes.**

 

**> > You can send the instructions with the potion later please, I wont remember that in two days**

 

**< < Of course, hope you have a good evening Lafayette.**

 

**> > You as well Thomas, we’ll see each other when we see each other**

 

**< < We will see each other when we see each other.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Thomas still lives in the 1800 and hates to use texting but does it because Laf gave him a phone for his birthday 
> 
> Also QUESTION FOR YALL: whats your favorite book?  
> I have too many faves to choose from but one of them is def The Great Gatsby (i'm a sucker for classics!)
> 
> Just like 2 days to the next chapter so see ya then ;)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is like day late and im just slightly sorry

Laf had meant to confront Lee the following day, they  _ really _ had.

 

But then the night had dragged on and they weren’t gonna try to find Lee and break a spell when hungover, that was just not happening. Magic and alcohol was the worst combination, something they had learnt one to many times during high school.

 

There was a pounding in their head when they woke up and Laf guessed it was caused by the half-empty bottle of Absolut Mango on the coffee table, standing in perfect line of sight from their place on the sofa. There was glasses filled with either water or vodka on the table as well. There had been a long time since they’ve gotten as drunk as they had last night, but it had been surprisingly fun.

 

Alex had invited Angelica and Eliza Schuyler (“Two out of the three Schuyler sisters, but Peggy’s in highschool so she isn’t allowed to drink, but she does it anyways” Hercules had explained to them before opening a beer or something, “Angelica just doesn’t want her to come with them if she knows we’re not having a hundred percent alcohol free night, she doesn’t want to be a bad influence.”) and with them Maria Lewis had come. From what Laf had gathered during the night Eliza and Maria was maybe together? They certainly had gotten comfortable with each other after the clock on the microwave turned 01:00, around the same time that Alex had fallen asleep on the sofa, and Hercules and Angelica had been trying to see who could finish the most shots under one minute. John had been reference simultaneously as he tried to braid their hair before… Before what? Laf tried to remember but nothing came up, either they had been to drunk or fallen asleep.

 

Laf ran their hand over their hair once and the crooked braids were still there, very uneven and with a lot of curls undone.

 

“Good morning.” Laf jumped, despite the quiet tone, and cranked their neck to try and see who was standing behind the sofa. It was Hercules, with bags under his eyes, only dressed in loose clothing and a small, tired smile on his lips.

 

“Hi.” They tried to whisper, but their voice cracked in the middle, and Laf tried to swallow to get rid of the dryness in their throat. Hercules smile turned a bit more amused and he walked around the sofa and placed a glass of water in front of them on the table, right next to the vodka. Well, they hoped it was water, because it was suspiciously alike to the drink.

 

“Thought you might need this.” Herc whispered back and grabbed the bottle and a pair of the used glasses and walked to the kitchen. They watched him go before focusing on the water and reached for it and brought it to their lips. It was pure, good water and Laf couldn’t think of a single time where they had been this thirsty before, not that they could think much at all. 

 

They drank the whole glass in small sips, while Hercules silently moved around the apartment and cleaned up most of the things that had been thrown around. Laf didn’t even want to think about getting up, and actually doing stuff sounded like such a chore that their head started to hurt even more.

 

“How are you so awake?” They finally asked when Hercules sat down on the other sofa with a cup of tea made for himself. It was nice laying there and just looking at him, they decided. He looked so peaceful, leaning back against the sofa with the soft light from the gray sky outside shining in and the steam slowly rising from the tea. There wasn’t anything particularly special about the moment, not really, but Laf wanted the picture next to the definition of Pleasant in the dictionary.

 

“I wasn’t like this for two hours ago, I can assure you.” Hercules replied and Laf groaned.

 

“You were up for two hours ago? How are you not dead?” If it had been them, Laf would have gone back to sleep after 10 minutes and woken up in time for dinner. 

 

Hercules shrugged, and took a sip of the tea “My mother used to make this terrible homemade hangover cure,” he gimached, “It works super well but most of the time the taste is so bad that I just choose to stay in a dark room most of the days.”

 

“But not today?” 

 

“Nah, I had some stuff to do so I need most of the day, can’t sew a dress if you’re still half drunk.” He said, and Laf rose themselves up on one arm, slowly sitting up with their whole body just slumping back. Hercules snickered a bit and they glowered at him. 

 

“What?” They knew that they probably looked like a raccoon, falling asleep with cheap eyeliner was not something that did wonders for one’s look.

 

“No no, it just seems like John only got half of you hair done, on one side it’s smooth and on the other it’s just poof.” He made a little gesture with his hand to symbolise their hair.

 

Laf reached up with their other hand, and true to what Hercules had said, there was their usual curls out of the ponytail for it. “Wonderful.”

 

Hercules shook his head “It looks okay, better than the mess Alex’s hair turns into whenever John get’s his hair on it. I’m quite happy with having short hair, no reason to worry that I will wake up with whatever that is in my hair.”

 

“Well this is the last time I’m getting drunk when John is around then.” They declared, and crossed their arms.

 

“Good luck avoiding that if you’re going to live here.” Hercules was snickering again, and while it was very endearing it was also terribly rude according to Laf. “But anyways do you want breakfast or something?”

 

“Yes please, the less taste the better.” Laf would not be able handle anything spicier than ketchup until noon. They liked to drink but their aftereffects were always ten times worse than any other person they had ever met.

 

Hercules nodded and made his way over to the kitchen. Laf could hear him opening cabinets and the refrigerator, but they decided to focus on actually waking up and being alert enough so that they could actually eat whatever was being prepared for them. They took a deep breath and stretched their arms over their head, and both their neck and back popped.

 

When Hercules arrived back with a bowl filled with milk and Frosties they had rubbed the sleep out of their eyes and rubbed around the eyeliner so that it looked even worse than before.

 

“Here you go, I hope it tastes… like nothing special I guess?” He placed it down in from of Laf, and their eyes met. “Oh, wait, you got a-” 

 

One of his hands reached up to Laf’s face and his thumb slowly stroked their cheek directly under their right eye. Hercules finger was warm against their skin, and his eyes were focused on the spot on their cheek. And for a moment, his finger stilled and their eyes met.

 

Just as slowly as before, Hercules removed his thumb and held it out in front of them, but Lafayette didn’t look away from his gaze, didn’t dare to take a single breath.

 

“Blow carefully.” Hercules said, voice barely above the whispering from before, and they did so without a complaint. “Now close your eyes and make a wish.” 

 

So they did that as well. It took half a moment for them to come up with what the wish would be.

 

_ ‘I wish... I wish that despite everything, that it will turn out alright in the end.’  _ It was a bit vague and probably a bit cheesy but such was the way of wishes.

 

When they opened their eyes again Hercules was smiling and had removed his hand. “You done? You had an eyelash under your eye.” 

 

“Mhm, thank you for removing it then and giving me a wish.” They answered back lightly. Laf was sure that what Hercules had done was completely unnecessary and a simple ‘you have an eyelash under your right eye’ would have been sufficient, but they were not complaining, not in the  _ slightest _ .

 

“You’re welcome! I can’t give you any more wished though, I have a dress to make an’ I know the theatre department won’t be happy if they get it later.” Hercules walked out from their space and Laf turned their head to look after him.     

  
  
  
  
  


After Hercules had excused himself, Laf did their best to not think about what had happened, because that would lead to a whole bunch of thoughts they were not ready to think about and tried to find something other to focus on in the room, but to no avail. There was little else to focus on than a slowly creeping feeling of mild uncomfort. It was a weird sitting alone in the livingroom of the apartment they weren’t yet living in but spent most of their downtime in. They didn’t feel like a visitor but not like it was their home either, and without a space to call their own in the apartment it wasn’t like they had a place they could retire to completely. 

 

So Laf did what any other human being did when they were bored, took out their phone and scrolled through instagram. It was only when the battery warned them that the battery only had 10% left that they moved from the sofa again.

 

They knew that they hadn’t brought a charger with them and they were not about to let the battery run out and not have any music to listen to on their inevitable way home to the dorm. And they knew that there were still too much alcohol in their blood and not enough focus in their brain that it was even worth trying to charge their phone with magic.        

 

So the simplest thing to do was to walk over to Hercules door and knock on it. Super easy. Except it felt like about half an eternity had passed and they still hadn’t knocked on the door. Which was ridiculous because they had  _ no reason _ to feel nervous about asking for a fucking phone charger.

 

“Deep breaths,” Laf said to themselves and inhaled, “There we go, now just raise your hand to the door and knock.” It was so absurd that they squeezed their eyes together just as they knocked on the door. Laf would blame this on the hangover.

 

_ “Come in.” _ Came Hercules voice from behind the door and Laf exhaled before squaring their shoulders and opening the door like it was leading them to hell. 

 

It wasn’t the first time they had been inside Hercules room, but some changes had happened since, the bed was unmade and there was a long yellow dress sitting on a sewing mannequin, not completely done. It was a extravagant dress, with the skirt made out of layers of thin fabric with ruffled ends and short sleeves. There was small rhinestones added to the waist, but only on the left side, and Laf assumed it was going to be the same on the other side as well. All in all, it was a beautiful creation. 

 

Hercules was sitting by his work desk, with the sewing machine beside him and a heavy, dark red fabric spilling out in his lap. “Hello Laf, you want something?”

 

“Yeah, um, could I borrow your phone charger?” They were still standing in the middle of the doorway but moved further inside when Herc waved them inside. At least their voice wasn’t showing the nervosity they had been feeling earlier.

 

“Of course! We should really get you one to have here, it would be a lot easier for you to stay ere longer if we started to move over a few of your things and at least got you a mattress so that you don’t have to sleep on the sofa all the time.” Hercules didn’t really seem to be expecting a serious answer, so they just hummed a in response as Herc picked up his charger. 

 

“Here.” There was a moment's pause before Hercules opened his mouth again, closed it and looked away.

 

“Is everything alright?” Hercules looked really troubled, a stark contrast to just a minute ago.

 

Yes, it’s just, you gotta tell me if this is a rude question and if you don’t want to answer that’s completely fine.” He exhaled, “Why do you only call yourself Lafayette? I’ve only heard you introduce yourself with ‘Lafayette’ and I was a bit curious, that’s not the right word exactly, but I just wanted to know if it’s something that we should avoid calling you or anything…”

 

Oh. That was not what they were expecting, not at all. Laf hadn’t thought about it, but Hercules was right, they hadn’t even given any other name when texting John for the first time. “Well… First of all- Lafayette is my surname and not first, but I think it is because I do not have a name that fits  _ me _ ? My first name is Gilbert but that is a bit to masculine for me and I have like twelve middle names but none of them feels just right and I do not want to add another name yet. I have not figured out what I want to call myself but Lafayette feels like the best option right now, if you understand.”

 

It all came out in a rush, and Laf was sure they stumbled over some words, but Hercules didn’t seem to have noticed. There was a feeling of anxiety creeping up their back when Hercules didn’t answer immediately. 

 

“I,” He began, “I think I get it. It took me a long time to find a name that I thought fit me, and names are special so you have to choose one that feels just like  _ you _ . I used to have this extreme need to find a name that it probably did more harm than good, but the fact that you’re comfortable with going with Lafayette is amazing,  _ you’re amazing _ . I think I really understand.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Amazing is one of the best words
> 
> also QUESTION: what's your fave song by LMM?
> 
> Mine is probably one of his older; Ghost Horse.
> 
> ALSO BREAKING NEWS: COMMENTING MAKES ME HAPPY AND GIVES ME ENERGY SO MAYBE DO THAT


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so school is getting a bit overwhelming at the moment so I wont have the time to post this every Thursday on the dot, but I WILL update every other week! I know that's a long time compared to how often other publish a new chapter, but I'm not a fast writer at all.
> 
> But i'm very happy with this chapter and I hope you will like it too!!

Lafayette was not stalking Lee.

 

They had just been walking a few meters behind him all over campus, waiting for a moment where there wasn’t a bunch of people around to see them de-curse Lee.

 

It was about five in the afternoon and a monday, so there definitely wasn’t that many people around as it would have been any other day, but still, they weren’t going to take any chances of letting any normal human beings see magic. It was more than enough that Lee was cursed.

 

If Laf were going to be honest though, they didn’t really mind the prospect of Lee just not noticing them in any sort of way for a very long time. If it wasn’t for the fact that someone was bound to notice how every time they and Lee were in the same area, Lee’s head seemed incapable of turning their way or just snapped real hard to the opposite direction, and that it was against the law, they would have left the curse untouched.

 

But as it was, they had to remove it before Lee’s neck whiplashed so hard that it broke and he killed himself and before someone reported him to the Bureau of Magical Law. 

 

A few steps ahead, Lee made a sharp turn behind a building and Lafayette followed. As they rounded the corner they stuck their hands inside the pockets of their black jacket, and slowly let the magic start crawling over their fingers. There wasn’t a specific spell for the removal of their curse, so they would have to improvise and let the magic do most of the job. 

 

Small sparks rolled between their fingers and they hurried forward to get closer to Lee. If he could have noticed them, Laf was sure that he would have been able to feel their breath on his neck. Glancing around to be completely sure that they were alone, Laf slowly removed their hands from their pockets and reached for Lee-

 

Only to have him  _ slam _ their body against the wall with one hand around their throat.

 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing,  _ witch _ ?” Lee hissed, face contorted from rage and he gripped their throat harder.

 

Lafayette tried to answer, but they only managed to choke on air and their hands were desperately trying to claw off Lee’s grip to no avail. There was a pounding in their head from where it had connected with the wall and the magic they had been building up was completely gone with their breath.

 

“You planning to curse me again, huh?” Laf tried to shake their head, but Lee’s grip made is impossible. Lee’s lips curled, revealed teeth sharper than a human's, and his pupils was glowing a sickly yellow. There was a cold burning intensity behind his eyes, and Laf felt a bolt of hot fear strike down their spine as they realized what exactly they were staring at.

 

Lee was a  _ werewolf _ .     

 

“Not so fuckin’ tough now. Ya know I wasn’t so sure if you were a witch but then you went and cast that fucking curse on me and just served yourself on a damn platter.” Lee let out a sound that was something between a taunting laugh or growl before releasing Lafayette’s throat and grabbing their chin and slamming his other hand hard on their shoulder.

 

Laf gasped, taking in a large breath and blinked hard, their head felt cloudy due to the lack of oxygen and black spots danced over their vision. Lee’s grip on their chin ached. 

 

“W-  _ what _ ,” They croaked out before coughing. “Are you doing?” Their voice was hoarse and sounded like they hadn’t had a drink for a week, mixed with having swallowed all saliva down.  

 

“I have a… Let’s call him a employer who heard there was a witch that’s been talking about  _ Walking Glories  _ and he would really like to know who been asking around. It’s an unusual topic, and there isn’t a lot of witches around campus, in fact, there is only four of you in total. We don’t want any competition when it comes to getting our shot at glory, if you catch my drift, so if you could just tell me everything you know, my employer won’t have to do it the hard way.” Lee used the same tone as he did when he talked about the weather, but the easy grin on his face showed a little too much teeth for it to be friendly, and Laf had a feeling that ‘the hard way’ would involve them not seeing their next birthday.

 

Laf swallowed. They didn’t want to be involved with The Corrupt or actually find out what the hard way meant, but they also  _ really _ didn’t want to be the reason that Alexander ended up torn to pieces and devoured. Fortunately they had been living with Lee for the better part of a year, and during that time they got to know three very important parts of Lee;

 

1\. Lee was  _ not  _ good at recognising when someone was lying to him. Effectively shown by the fact that he actually thought that his one nights stands would call him back the following day, and then complaining when they didn’t.

 

2\. He also had a very easily inflated ego, and happened to be a bit of an idiot.

 

3\. If there was one thing that Lee did often enough to be called a habit, it was punching things when it didn’t go as he wanted it to.

 

Lee didn’t definitely know that they were the one who knew of Alexander. So Lafayette could lie to him, and they had done so successfully many times before, but if he found out that they were lying it would not end well for them, regardless of what Lee’s employer would do. 

 

“Well?” Lee almost growled out, and Laf focused on a point just above his eyelids and furrowed their brows.

 

“I- what are you  _ talking _ about? I haven’t heard anyone even mentioning  _ Walking Glories  _ since France!” Their voice had gone up in a pitch. “I just wanted to remove an accidental curse, not compete or anything with you about something like that!  _ Merde, _ that would be a suicidal idea! Please just let me  _ go _ . I didn’t even know there was other witches around how would I notice a  _ Walking Glory? _ ”

 

Lee’s lips thinned and he got the same look on his face as he did every time he studied math. His grip on their jaw tightened. 

 

It was quiet, and Laf could hear the pulsing in their ears and feel cold sweat run down the back of their neck. They didn’t dare to breathe.

 

“If you  _ ever _ ,” Lee hissed, hot, garlic smelling breath hitting Laf in the face and making them turn their face away, “ever tell anyone about what I told you, you’ll wish you were dead - got it  _ bitch _ ?”  

 

Laf gave a stiff nod. They met Lee’s glowing eyes one last time before he released their chin and slowly backed away, still glaring at them. They stayed in place, not moving a muscle, heart still beating hard.

 

“And it it turns out you’re lying or protecting whoever the  _ Walking Glory _ is, I will hunt you down and eat you together with them.” And with that final threat, Lee rounded the same corner he come from, leaving Lafayette alone.

 

They didn’t notice it immediately, but slowly their body had started to shake and they needed to take gasping gulps of air. What the fuck. Pressing the heel of their hands to their eyes, Laf willed their body to at least calm down a little. 

 

Great. Fantastic. Wonderful. They were going to die. It was going to be a painful and horrific death involving not only them but Alexander as well. Fan-fucking-tastic. They had hoped, against all odds, that Alexander would go unnoticed, that they were the only one who could see the passion burning in his soul and that it would remain that way. Apparently not.

 

They leaned their head against the wall and looked up at the evening sky. They had no idea how to handle this situation, it was way out of their depth. Maybe it would have been better if they hadn’t seen John Laurens’ number than one day and just continued on with their life, ignorant in bliss without having to worry about the potential murder of a person...

 

No. They couldn’t be thinking something like that. Right now they were the only chance that Alexander had for surviving. They couldn’t leave him to whoever Lee’s employer was to be hunted down, they weren’t that kind of person. If Lee, who clearly had gone corrupt, and at least one more of  _ The Corrupt  _ was looking for Alex they sure as hell wasn’t going to spare the life of his roommates if they tried to protect him.

 

Lafayette squared their shoulders. If  _ The Corrupt  _ was looking for Alexander, they were not going to make it easy for them to find their friend. They might not be the most powerful witch, but Laf  _ knew _ magic and it was time to actually utilize it to it’s full capacity.

  
  
  
  
  


It took Lafayette less than 10 minutes to get back to the dorm the shared with Charles- a fucking werewolf- Lee, a new time record. As soon as they got inside they made sure that the door would stay looked, even if Lee used his key, and got to work.

 

They walked to the middle of the room and snapped their fingers. 

 

Immediately it was like the whole room had come to life in a shower of sparks. The drawers of their desk emptied out, and the items inside sorted themselves into neat piles, as the books from the shelf  stacked ontop of eachother and their belts’ fastened around the piles. One of their shoulder bags opened itself and the stacks of supplies fell down, taking up much more space than what seemed available.        

 

All of their chargers had gotten tangled together as they frantically tried to get free from the rat-king made out of chargers, and Laf had to smile as they walked over and tried to untangle the mess.

 

From under their bed the blue suitcase they had brought all their belongings in when they first moved into the dorm emerged and landed dutifully on the bed, ready to conation all the clothes that Lafayette kept in their wardrobe as the door to it opened. Their clothes emerged, all moving as if there was an invisible person wearing them before folding neatly into the suitcase.

 

Laf could hear a small pounding from behind the bathroom door and when they sent a shower of sparks to open it, their makeup bag came flying, closely followed by their actual makeup and hair products.

 

Every last piece of their possessions packed themselves into different bags in flurries of movements, until there was only their blue suitcase and the leather shoulder bag left. One of Lafayette’s more beloved scarves wound around their neck like a snake to hide the bruises left by Lee, and the tie around their hair redid itself, and then they were ready to leave.

 

Laf was not going to take any chances when it came to protecting Alexander, and they were not going to be living with Lee for a second longer.

 

They grabbed their two bags, spelled to weigh a tenth of what they really did and walked out of the dorm.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Alexander’s eyes widened in shock when he opened the door to the apartment he shared with Hercules and John just a few minutes later, not at all expecting Lafayette to be standing outside fully packed. 

 

“Hi,” They began, “Can I come in? There has been a slight change in the moving in plans.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE LEE THNIG FOR SO LONG HOLY SHIT 
> 
> also ;))) Laf's experience with how it feels to be choked is based on the Real Deal™ ;)))) (aka I googled that shit and wrote down what the source described)
> 
> Question for you: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?   
> I have a trip to Korea planned this summer and rn I want nothing more to be there with the girl I'm going to travel there with!!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M NOT DEAD
> 
> Tho im genuinely sorry that it has taken me this long to update BUT i can explain!!
> 
> If you read my announcement then you would know that I traveled to Ethiopia for 2 weeks at the start of december and that was the most exhausting trip i've ever been to. I slept 5 hours/night and worked from 8:15 to 21:30 each day with maximum 3 hour break. So I didn't have the energy to even think about updating when i first came home
> 
> Secondly - my anxiety and depression got much worse for a few weeks and that was mixed with a horrible writers block that I just couldn't get rid off. I felt so guilty over not updating but I was to depressed to put the effort I wanted into this work
> 
> ANYWAYS I'm back now and already working on the next chapter and i think it will be out next week!!!!

_ “Hi,” They began, “Can I come in? There has been a slight change in the moving in plans.” _

 

In hindsight Laf probably should have called or something to give a heads up  that they were coming over, instead of just showing up on the doorstep with two full suitcases unannounced. 

 

Alex blinked a few times and his brows furrowed for a second before he shrugged and opened the door wider. The aura around him turned orange for a second before it returned to its original red. “Eh sure? You can leave the bags in… I guess it’s your room now huh.”

 

“Thank you, I know it’s sudden but... “ Laf trailed off. What were they going to say as an explanation? ‘My roommate was apparently a werewolf this whole time and might kill me if he found out that we were friends and he definitely would kill you if he even knew you existed so thanks for letting me stay here!’ 

 

“It’s fine, we all had stupid roommates, that’s why we’re here.” He closed the door behind Laf, “And besides you came at a good time, we actually have some food in the fridge for the first time since forever.” Alex was nearly bragging, like it was a feat that they just hadn’t ordered pizza yet again. Which, yeah, Laf could relate to. 

 

They walked into Alexander’s (or so to be their) room, which was basically a office overflowing with books and papers, and a mattress pushed to the wall with a reading light next to it. Closing the door and dropping the bags, Laf leaned back against the wall and let out a sigh.

 

The only light in the room came from the small streams of evening sunlight shining through the blinds, but they had no desire to turn on the lamp. They hadn’t really realized how  _ exhausted _ they were. Everything felt a bit too much, now that they had time to actually think over what had happened and Laf had come to the conclusion that they didn’t know  _ what the fuck _ to do now! How the fuck would they be able to protect Alex? It wasn’t like these sort of dilemmas were common so they couldn’t exactly Google the solution!

 

At least the Lee-is-a-bad-roommate problem in their life was solved. The only downside was that it had been replaced with Lee-is-a-werewolf problem and while that was much bigger issue it wasn’t something that Laf had to deal with every day hopefully. 

 

Laf closed their eyes, they would take a moment to just relax and breathe in the silence - 

 

_ “What the fuck Alexander?!”  _ Only to be disturbed by John Laurens shout. They stuck their head out the door when they heard the startled laugh coming from Hercules.

 

Alex was standing in front of the sofa, hands up and looking very much like he was trying not to smile. John looked like he wanted to murder him. There was a half empty bottle of Fanta Exotic in his hand and a big orange stain going from the top of his light blue t-shirt and running down the front. A single drop of soda ran down his chin and dropped down onto the mess on his shirt. 

 

“I didn’t know you would drop the whole bottle on yourself, it’s not my fault!” Alex was about 3 seconds away from losing it and just start laughing in John’s face, Lafayette guessed. 

 

“You put your icicle of a hand on my neck! What sort of reaction did you think you would get?” John placed the Fanta on the table before standing up and holding in the hems of his shirt. “This isn’t fucking pleasant. You owe me 10 dollars if this leaves a permanent stain.” 

 

“Are you alright John?” They walked out to the kitchen and leaned against the table, feeling a amused smirk growing steadily on their lips.

 

“ _ Yes. _ I’m fine, I’ve just realized I live with the worst person - are you sure we just can’t replace Alex with Laf?” The question was directed at Herc, who had stopped laughing, which was a shame according to Laf, his laugh was so nice. Laughter always made Hercules cheeks turn cherry.

 

“Yes, unfortunately. We can’t exactly let Alex loose on the streets, God only knows how many fights he would start.” He grinned at Alex and ignored the middle finger he got in response. “And give me your shirt, I’ll fix it so that you won’t complain later.”

 

John threw one last glance at Alexander before taking of the formerly completely blue shirt. “If I see any changes I expect to see 10 dollars in my hands the next day.”

 

“Mhm sure.” Alex nodded, eyes flicking up to meet John’s for a short second and then pointedly looking out the window.

 

Laf made eye contact with Hercules and raised their eyebrows.  Herc just rolled his eyes and mimed  _ get used to it _ as he accepted the dirty shirt and cleared his throat. “Well since you both, yes both of you Alexander, spilled out the only good soda we have in this whole apartment you can go to the store and buy a new one.”

 

Alex held up one finger, “I only accept that if you start dinner while we’re away.”

 

“We will start making the food.” Laf promised and received a thumbs up. 

 

“D’ you want anything from the store Laf? If you’re moving in we might as well buy you toothpaste and shit like that.”               

 

Laf shook their head, “No, I think I brought everything, I can anything I missed by myself.”

 

“Cool, then we’ll leave.” Alex turned around and started to walk down the hallway. “Laurens put on a shirt.” He called over his shoulder. John rolled his eyes, grabbed a hoodie hanging on one of the chairs in the kitchen, and followed Alex. 

 

Hercules was chuckling, slowly shaking his head before smiling up at them. “Better get used to this, huh?”

 

“What, John spilling soda on himself happens that often?” They teased back, jumping up on the table and crossing their legs. Hercules let out a painful laugh and rubbed his forehead with his free hand.

 

“I know you’re joking but John is an expert on spilling drinks on his shirts, I don’t think he owns any fully white shirts anymore.”

 

“I do not know if I should be impressed or horrified,” They snickered, “Anything else I should know?”

 

“Ah I think it’s best if you experience  _ everything _ yourself, some things you just can’t explain, ya’ know?” Laf felt the smile freeze on their face. Oh if only he knew how right he was. There was  _ so much _ they wanted to tell him, to be able to show him their magic and just have someone who understood or at least was willing to try to understand that part of their life. It wasn’t hurting them to hide it, but it was draining and sometimes it felt as if they would lose an essential part of themselves if they didn’t at least try to add magic into their life. Even if it meant sneaking around with it and hiding it -  it wasn’t  _ freedom  _ but it was the safest route right now.  

 

Hercules didn’t seem to have noticed their sudden mood shift and tossed John’s shirt up in the air before catching it again. “I’ll go throw this into the washing machine. Could you look up some recipe for chicken - there should be a cooking book here somewhere… And if there’s something missing just call Alex and have him pick it up okay?”

 

“Sure!” Laf shook their head, there was no need to be so depressing, it wasn’t like they hadn’t done magic a few hours earlier. Even if it had mostly been as self defence they hadn’t used that much energy in a long time, and it felt like the floodgates had been opened. They could feel in their fingers, the need, the desire to just let go and fill the whole apartment with magic.          

 

But they didn’t. Instead Laf quickly looked towards where Hercules had walked off, and then snapped their fingers. The book Herc had mentioned came flowing out from under a pile of papers and Alexander's computer and landed open in their lap. Laf flipped through the pages until they decided on Chicken with Lemon Glaze and Mozzarella Salad just as Hercules returned.

 

“Have you decided?” He leaned against the table and a smile twitched on his lips. He was close enough that they could see every detail of Herc’s eyes which were really pretty and the color was just so warm  _ and _ not something they should be thinking about right now! Focus Laf!

 

“Jupp!” They responded and immediately wanted to cringe at the false cheerfulness in their tone. “Eh, yes I did.” 

 

They handed the book over to Hercules who needed as he looked it over. “Yeah I think we got everything for this home, so let’s start!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Laf's favorite song is Je veux by Zaz (you can find it on spotify it's a wonderful song) but they also really like Delilah by Florance + the machine 
> 
> **Question for you lovely lovely readers:** What was the best gift you got for Christmas? And if you dont celebrate that, what's the best gift you got last year just in general? 
> 
>  
> 
> Next chapter will be up in less than a week and then I'll return to the bi- weeky schedule ^^


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: OMG this has over 2000 hits!!!! Ahhhh I'm soooo happy!!!   
> thank you so much <33 I love you all!!!!!!

When Laf had cooked with Alex and John, it had been like trying to make a meal with two hurricanes while simultaneously being a bit out of sync with their movements as well. It wasn’t that they hadn’t felt welcome, it was just that it had been a bit obvious that the two of them we’re so used to one another that they didn’t even have to think about how to interact. If Laf hadn’t know better they would have claimed that there was some sort of mental connection between them, but they had figured that some people just fit together that well, however chaotic they were. 

 

But being in the spacious kitchen with Hercules was completely different.

 

It was calm, with the rays of the evening sun streaming in from the half open windows and casting a warm glow through the whole apartment. The sound of vegetables being chopped and the pan sizzling filled the kitchen together with the faint smell of citrus. Everything was peaceful, and for a moment Lafayette relished in the feeling. It was  _ nice _ , a break from everything that was was happening around them. They didn’t have to focus on anything else other than cutting up cherry tomatoes in halves and the sound of Hercules low humming as he watched over the chicken.

 

They had decided on making a caesar salad mix with lime and french vinegar chicken, which hopefully would be done just right on time to when Alexander and John would get back.

 

“Hey Laf, we’re going to need white vinegar next.” Hercules said, “It should be in the cupboard over there, can you get it please?”

 

“Of course!” They responded, and opened the door to where Hercules had gestured. There was a small collection of oils and dressings standing on the third shelf, they even found a normal balsamic vinegar but no white. 

 

‘ _ Maybe I can transmute it when Hercules isn’t looking? It wouldn’t take much - ‘  _

 

“You found it Laf?” Herc’s question dragged them out of their thought.

 

They shook their head, “No, are you sure you keep it here?” They moved some of the bottles and other containers around, on the lower shelves but still found nothing.

 

“Yeah, can I take a quick look while you flip over the chicken?” Herc traded places with them and Laf shrugged, they were sure that Hercules would come to the same conclusion as them, it was too bad that they had been interrupted because the ordinary vinegar wouldn’t require much magic, just a simple change of base ingredients and it would have been done. 

 

“Found the vinegar!” Laf turned around, and raised their eyebrows at Hercules triumphant smile. 

 

“Where was it? I swear I looked through the whole thing.”

 

“Oh it was just laying face down on the third shelf,” Hercules said dismissively and stepped to stand beside them. “Are you done with the salad part?”

 

“Mostly I think,” They responded still a bit confused over how they could have missed something so obvious. “I’m just going to fix the tomatoes and then I’ll be done.” 

 

Hercules nodded, and the sun shining in on his eyes from the side made them look almost golden. “Well why don’t you put on some music or something after that? If we have nothing better to do than just wait for the food to be done I mean.”

 

“Sure, do you have a speaker somewhere?” They looked around the room, “Or should I just use my phone?”

Hercules gestured with the spatula he was holding towards the pile of paper on the table that was Alex mini- workplace outside of his room. “Try looking around there, it’s usually Alex who has the speaker when he works.”

 

It was pretty easy to find the speaker Hercules was talking about, even though it had been buried under a pile of papers all labeled “Seminar on Private Life Law” with way too many colorful post it notes on each paper.

 

 They got their phone out of the pocket and connected it to the speaker before turning to Hercules, “Does french music work?”

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever listened to french music? Buy go ahead and put it on dude, it’ll fit with the food!” Hercules seemed excited for the chance to listen to the matching french song that Laf couldn’t help but laugh as they clicked ‘play’.

 

Immediately the sound of guitar and saxophone started, and they couldn’t help moving their shoulders to the beat. Just as the vocals started Laf closed their eyes and sang along.

 

_ “Donnez-moi une suite au Ritz, je n'en veux pas! Des bijoux de chez Chanel, je n'en veux pas! Donnez-moi une limousine, j'en ferais quoi, papalapapapala.”  _ It was a cheesy love song, but they knew every word to it by heart and they would never tire of the jazz tunes.

 

They could hear Hercules letting out a startled laugh as they started moving around the space, gesticulating with their arms and heels clacking on the floor in tact with the song.  _ “Offrez-moi du personnel, j'en ferais quoi? Un manoir à Neufchatel, ce n'est pas pour moi, offrez-moi la Tour Eiffel, j'en ferais quoi, papalapapapala.” _

 

They opened their eyes and twirled around to see Herc leaning against the counter, head moving to the same beat and cheeks red from smiling. They moved closer and grabbed hold of Herc’s arm before dragging him into the dance as well.   

 

“ _ Je veux d'l'amour, d'la joie, de la bonne humeur, ce n'est pas votre argent qui f'ra mon bonheur! Moi j'veux crever la main sur le cœur, papalapapapala. _ ” They continued to sing, twirling around Hercules and trying to move along with the song. Laf must have looked ridiculous but they honestly couldn’t care less. They were having fun, and that was all that mattered,   

 

“ _ Allons ensemble, découvrir ma liberté. Oubliez donc tous vos clichés, bienvenue dans ma réalité! _ ” They sung the last part of the refrain to Hercules, while simultaneously dancing backwards and grinding at him.  

Both of them continued the rest of the song like that, with Laf just doing all kinds of weird steps all around the kitchen and Hercules laughing with them until the last note from the saxophone.

“So, what did you think of the french music?” They asked a little breathless and sat down on one of the chairs by the table. “It’s quite nice, yes?”

 

“Well it was certainly very jazzy,” Hercules joked back “But I’m also a bit worried about the chicken being burnt, you did drag me off just as it was done...”

 

“ _ Fuck _ !” They rushed over to the pan and turned the chicken over. It was nearly black on the bottom part and Laf hastily turned the stove of before removing the food and putting it on the plate Hercules had prepared before. Groaning, Laf rubbed their forehead “I do not think that the burnt parts will be any good, but the rest should be fine. Ugh, I’m so sorry for this.”

 

“Nah don’t worry about it, we can just cut of the bad parts later.” Hercules walked up to one of the cupboards and picked out a small stack of plates and handed them over to Laf, “How about we set the table? The others should be here in- ”  

 

“Hey we’re back!” Alex shout startled them and Lad nearly dropped the plates. “There was some fucker in front of us who bought 7 big Pepsi Max bottles and I’ve never been so disgusted by a person in my whole life! You should have seen him! I was so close to - ” Alex cut himself off as he entered the kitchen, “Are we supposed to eat that? Because it looks like it’s been cremated.”

 

“Don’t be an ass Alex,” John said, arriving behind him. “You managed to burn soup to the bottom of a pot once and we had to throw the damn thing away because you fucked the whole thing over. Anyways we got a new fanta orange and regular coke, and we also bought some cleaning stuff that’s supposed to take away all marks left on fabric, hopefully that includes soda stains.”

 

After that John placed the two bottles of soda on the table and Alex grabbed glasses for them all as Laf placed the plates on the table. Hercules arrived with the food with Alex in tow and then dinner was served. 

 

It was a good tasting meal despite the burnt parts, maybe a bit bland according to Laf- but there wasn’t like buying spices were gonna be prioritized by college students. But they also realized that they hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning, and it seemed like the rest of their new roommates were pretty hungry as well.

 

Thinking of Alex, John and Hercules as roommates felt weird but also incredibly delightful. Laf had looked forward to getting a roommate in college before they even moved to the states, and when they got into King’s College they had decided to live in the dorms because it was cheaper but also so that they would be able to live with someone. Too bad the person they had ended up with had been Lee, and that had put a big damper on their mood in the beginning. 

 

But now they actually had friends that wasn’t just acquaintances of Thomas or something like that. Being in the apartment with the last few rays of the sun hitting them in the back and surrounded by people who they liked felt  _ right _ .

 

“So what will we do with sleeping arrangements tonight?” John’s question broke the silence, and Laf turned to look at him. Oh yeah, that was a problem they needed to solve.

 

“Laf can take my room and then I can sleep in Laurens room.” Alexander said, still chewing sallad. “Might as well get the sleeping arrangements fixed tonight.”

 

“Yeah that’ll work, we’ve already fixed a space for your new mattress so we just need to change the bedding and we’ll be done.” john shot Alex a look, “And you got green stuff between your front teeth.”

 

“Eh, I can sleep on the sofa you know, “ They cut in, “It’s what I’ve done all the other times.”    

 

“No, you don’t want to sleep on the couch my dude,” John cut in, “Since someone made me spill a whole bottle of Fanta over it and it’s sticky as fuck. Just take the damn mattress that Alex calls a bed.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The dinner ended fairly quickly after that, and Alex rushed of from the table to ‘clean up most of the mess in my room so that John and Hercules won’t complain about me not being a good host’. John helped clean up at the table before he also excused himself and went to look for clean bedclothes. Laf helped Hercules clean up everything in the kitchen in a slow pace, stopping occasionally to stretch and jawn. They didn’t talk much, but Laf had a feeling they wouldn’t have the energy to hold a long conversation either. It had been a long day for them after all.

The red digital clock on the microwave was 21:19 when Alex emerged from the room and told them that it was all done so that they could go to sleep. He’d laughed a little as they tried to stop a jawn for the second time in as many minutes.

 

“Just go to sleep, we can fix more tomorrow.” He clapped them on the shoulder, which was a bit funny because he actually had to reach up to do it, which John gleefully had commented on. While Laf usually would have liked to stay up later and do something they were way to tired.

 

Instead they said goodnight to everyone, thanked Hercules for a wonderful time cooking together, went to the room and collapsed onto the bed.

  
  
  
  
  


Only too wake up in the middle of the night feeling more alert than what should be allowed. Laf blinked and stared at the ceiling, they just didn’t feel tired! It was probably due to the fact that they had fallen asleep at least 2 hours before their usual bedtime, however that didn’t mean that they wanted to wake up earlier as well.

 

They had tried closing their eyes, but something in their mind had bugged them before they had been forced to roll over and stare at the wall instead, which wasn’t that much different from the ceiling. Reaching a hand out behind them Laf grabbed their phone after fumbling around for a short while. 

 

The screen’s brightness made them squint, and apparently it was only sometime after three on the morning. Fantastic. 

 

They discarded the phone, and instead let small sparks of their magic dance over their fingers. It softly illuminated the corner of the room they were sleeping in, and the light was much easier on their eyes than the phone’s. 

 

Since they didn’t have anything better to do, Laf slowly let the sparks travel from their hands and down their arms from where they started to fill the room. It looked like they had trapped jumping fireflies that shone light on all of Alexander’s books and papers all over the place. 

 

“Maybe...” They whispered to themselves and rubbed their eyes before sitting up. If they were going to try and protect Alex then why not start with warding the apartment? It didn’t have to be much, just a simple spell to keep ill intentions away and then they could create stronger wards later. It wasn’t like they had much else to do.

 

Crossing their legs, Laf begun the start of the spell in a low voice. They weren’t speaking english, but rather an old french dialect from the regions around Nice, and as the incantation picked up so did their voice. 

 

They formed a loose circle with their fingers and a sphere of shimmering gray light extended from it. It was warm, and as it grew to cover more of the room and surround them, it almost felt like they were being hit by soft waves with each word they spoke. 

 

For the final step Laf closed their eyes and tried to imagine the layout of the apartment, and they could see in their mind how the spell changed shape to follow the walls and putting extra focus on the windows and front door to their new home.

 

They finished the incantation by clapping their hands loudly, and the color of the spell disappeared. It would still be there, only it would lay dormant and go unnoticed by everyone.

 

Opening their eyes, Laf could still see the tiny lights moving around the room, but one by one they faded away until there was only one spark left. It hovered over their hands before slowly falling down to land in their palm, it blinked twice and then disappeared- leaving them in the dark room once again.

 

“I should probably go to sleep huh.” They whispered to themselves once again, and then crawl back under the cover again. It felt easier to fall asleep now, when they knew everyone was safe. At least for a short while. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're back to the regular schedule!
> 
> Fun fact: The song Laf is singing is Je Veux by Zaz, which i mentioned in the previous chapter was their favorite song!  
> Ohter fun fact: I love cooking and it's one of my biggest hobbies, and therefore I had to limit myself to what I could write about the cooking process, and therefore the meal is missing a lot of ingredients in the description.
> 
> **question for y'all:** do you know any good Laf/Hercules fics? Because I'm having a hard time finding a new one to read so recommend me your faves! (They dont even have to be the main ship, but they have to be there as more than just mentions)

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: John's texting style is an copy of mine so that was really easy to write!
> 
> hmu on tumblr [@Newspapernom](https://newspapernom.tumblr.com)


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